“Horizontals & Verticals”
December 12th, 2020
“Everything is Lit”
December 10th, 2020
Tagged: reflection
< a little closer up >
For the second full week of Black & White February, I decided to follow up on an idea that I’d had for a few months – to shoot light trails in Elgin. I enjoy capturing long exposures, but the added challenge of capturing light trails in downtown Elgin instead of Chicago (where there’s more traffic) seemed challenging.
While we were out in the bitter cold for the January Lunar Eclipse, I realized that Elgin’s parking garages would make a great vantage point for some light trail images. I’d taken images from the top of the Spring Street garage, in fact, I’ve led photo walks in downtown Elgin and used the Spring Street garage as a vantage point.
However, I decided to add one more aspect to the week’s photos: I would attempt to shoot 7 images and capture 7 photos that I was proud of…I didn’t quite make it. Capturing light trails of traffic when there’s very little traffic turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected. But I took 14 images, from 6 vantage points, and captured 7 images that I’m proud of.
Cynthia, my oldest daughter, and I took a day trip down to Matthiessen State Park for our October birthdays. The weather was perfect, and the colors were just starting to turn, so we enjoyed some yellow and just the hints of red that were just beginning. In the fall it’s very unusual for there to be much water flowing, but when we walked north, toward Matthiessen Lake, there was some water flowing near the Giant’s Bathtub and then a small amount off of the Lake Falls.
