alanfitzphotos
Chicago Winter Sunrise - "Fire & Ice"
Staying on Michigan Avenue the walk out to the lighthouse usually takes no more than 20-25 minutes. This morning it took easily twice that. Progress, despite the weather, was reasonably good downtown. However, once you hit the pier out to the lighthouse things became seriously challenging ........😬
Having left the hotel well before sunrise the whole trip was conducted in complete darkness. With the lake completely frozen on either side navigation along the narrow strip was at times only possible on all fours. Slide the camera bag & tripod ahead ........ (hoping it didn’t disappear off the edge) before slowly sliding, slipping, crawling, ..... hopefully, in the same direction. I’m not a terribly religious guy, but admittedly more than one short prayer was said that my gear would be protected and not disappear over the side into Lake Michigan 😯
That said, what’s not obvious from the angle of this shot is that the surface of the lake was almost completely semi-solid. In the deathly silence of early morning nothing could be heard other than the gentle, rhythmic swell of the lake pushing against the underside of the immense ice pack. The ice groaning under the strain, like two adversaries locked in battle neither prepared to give way. Towards the very tip of the pier however the lake did seem to be occasionally getting the upper hand. The relentless pressure from beneath had caused the ice to fracture into sharpe shards, some bigger in size that me, pointing randomly skyward in all directions. A scene reminiscent of Superman’s home world of Krypton, for all you SyFy geeks out there .....
Anyhow, I digress. Managed to complete what I think is a reasonably good pano (even including myself in the action), before loosing all the feeling in my hands.
Mad early start, temperatures of -20C, & way more than one clumsy impact with the concrete, but WOW 😲........ it was so worth the experience & to get a reasonable shot as well was undoubtedly a huge bonus. Looking at the image now, couldn't think of a better leading line, drawing the eye into what I imagined was a city rising from the ashes of some post apocalyptic winter wasteland & the dawn of a new day ....... with me the only witness.
Hope you like it. 😎
Chicago Winter Sunrise - "Fire & Ice"
Staying on Michigan Avenue the walk out to the lighthouse usually takes no more than 20-25 minutes. This morning it took easily twice that. Progress, despite the weather, was reasonably good downtown. However, once you hit the pier out to the lighthouse things became seriously challenging ........😬
Having left the hotel well before sunrise the whole trip was conducted in complete darkness. With the lake completely frozen on either side navigation along the narrow strip was at times only possible on all fours. Slide the camera bag & tripod ahead ........ (hoping it didn’t disappear off the edge) before slowly sliding, slipping, crawling, ..... hopefully, in the same direction. I’m not a terribly religious guy, but admittedly more than one short prayer was said that my gear would be protected and not disappear over the side into Lake Michigan 😯
That said, what’s not obvious from the angle of this shot is that the surface of the lake was almost completely semi-solid. In the deathly silence of early morning nothing could be heard other than the gentle, rhythmic swell of the lake pushing against the underside of the immense ice pack. The ice groaning under the strain, like two adversaries locked in battle neither prepared to give way. Towards the very tip of the pier however the lake did seem to be occasionally getting the upper hand. The relentless pressure from beneath had caused the ice to fracture into sharpe shards, some bigger in size that me, pointing randomly skyward in all directions. A scene reminiscent of Superman’s home world of Krypton, for all you SyFy geeks out there .....
Anyhow, I digress. Managed to complete what I think is a reasonably good pano (even including myself in the action), before loosing all the feeling in my hands.
Mad early start, temperatures of -20C, & way more than one clumsy impact with the concrete, but WOW 😲........ it was so worth the experience & to get a reasonable shot as well was undoubtedly a huge bonus. Looking at the image now, couldn't think of a better leading line, drawing the eye into what I imagined was a city rising from the ashes of some post apocalyptic winter wasteland & the dawn of a new day ....... with me the only witness.
Hope you like it. 😎