Leafless Trees in Crow Island Woods

Hiking through Crow Island Woods yesterday, the undergrowth looked particularly

 uninspiring and the landscape barren. It had snowed heavily, but the slight increase

 in temperature caused the snow to melt so everything was muddy and generally ugly.

 Then I remembered an idea I had a while back about arboreally typology, fusing Harriet 

and Bernd Becher's style with the typical sort of subject that I photograph, so I picked 

an interesting looking tree and photographed it composed straight through the middle 

two-thirds of the frame, with the center of the tree in focus. A dense tangle of spiny red 

vines, slush, and dead branches were a nuisance, but each time I managed 
to maneuver through.

   

Winnetka

Taken in February 2013

Streetlight in Winnetka

While walking home from school along one of the more affluent streets in Winnetka 

yesterday I noticed that that streetlights' illumination of the night, post, branches, 

and wires looked particularly interesting, so I photographed them with a very low 

aperture. The tones worked out nicely, and the limited light evoked an eerie but nifty

 visual effect.

Night photography can be fun, since the only things that can be photographed 

cannot be photographed in the day and the process of acquiring enough light for

 a reasonably good photograph adds a unique twist to the regular point-and-shoot.

 Without light, the results can be blurry and noisy, but with light the scene can be 

quaint and ethereal.

Winnetka

Taken in February 2013

Winnetka's Business District and Dwyer Park at Night

While walking home from school with my camera and 50mm f/1.8 lens, I took 

an alternative route and photographed street lamps. I noticed the brightly lit Dutch

 architecture of Winnetka's business district piercing through Dwyer Park, and stood in 

the snow on the curb to compose landscape shots of the buildings shaded by the out-of-focus

 park. The buildings seemed unique, and I tried to isolate them but also integrate them

 into the sprawling nightscape.

Winnetka is quaint, but it's sort of elitist. Specifically, country club elitist. As I took 

these shots, a few cars slowed to see what a teenager with a bag and a mysterious device 

in his hand could possibly be doing at this time at night, especially in the wealthier part of 

one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country. I mean I guess it's suspicious, and that explains 

why no one has gotten these shots before. Unfortunately, as a product of this pristine and

 sheltered enclave on the lake, I feel as though I have a duty to capture the distinct character 

of Winnetka-- not through galas and community events, as most North Shore publications try to,

 but through it's landscape.

Winnetka

Taken in February 2013

Stream leading into Lake Michigan

On New Year's Day I drove to Maple Beach and walked along the icy blocks 

of sand to another public beach that doesn't seem to have a name and is small

 and generally inaccessible. Out of a pipe flowed water that eroded a small canyon 

between a wall of icy sand and the rocks bordering a private beach. Midst the stream

 were small islands of sand and pebbles. I crouched on one of these islands and 

took a few low perspective shots of the stream.

Bodies of water are interesting artistic subjects because they represent different 

things to different people. I did some research on 19th century landscape photography,

 and I came up with some interesting examples. Roger Fenton, a British photographer 

who became obsessed with Scottish and Welsh lakes for a couple years, portrayed water

 as very serene and romantic-- in tune with the rest of its surroundings and seemingly 

motionless. Henry Jackson Turner, the American landscape photographer, on the other 

hand depicts water as epic and awe-inspiring-- reflecting the formidable and exciting 

character of the American West. Here's the link to the blog where I'm trying to organize

 historical photographs: http://historicalphotographs.tumblr.com.

Winnetka

Taken in January 2013