Lately my commute home has taken place over the hour where today becomes tomorrow. It’s a long trip. It flows easily without traffic and I have playlists for every mood so I don’t mind the distance.
There is one particular stretch of 90 I look forward to every time. The skyline sprouts above the highway barriers in a glittering wall that shifts like a tesseract as you twist down the expressway. I grip the steering wheel to keep my eyes on the road instead of the eldritch wonder that is a moving city.
So I asked my partner to take me up the highway so I can get the shots I’ve been craving since I started this drive.
[Chicago Windows, to be used as a background in Destination Anywhere: Chicago]
I have always been drawn to the lights of windows and doorways. I can probably relate it back to stories of magical passages I grew up on. When capturing space and time a window becomes a ready frame for you to capture a slice of a moment in time. Lately I’ve been inspired by photographers like Lukasz Palka and Clarissa Bonet to get my own glowing night windows. Plus its good imagry to use for my Destination Anywhere zine.
Route note: I intended on doing a wide loop of the downtown buildings on 90 and return on Lake Shore Drive, but construction changed those plans. Instead we passed down the magnificent mile and crossed over Roosevelt to feel our way back to the highway. It wasn’t what I planned but I already got the shot I was looking for so the rest of the drive was sticking my head out the window snapping away like a dog on vacation.
Shooting out a window is difficult but I’ve had lots of practice with it. Even going 25 is fast when you’re trying to capture stationary objects.
The best tip I can give is set everything around the shutter speed you need to perform at. If you’re trying to get crisp window shots going 70 down the expressway you either need to have a lens that can shoot far enough out that it wont shift or a shutter fast enough to still catch details when you have no time for a redo. Creative motion blur is easy. If you’re looking for some aesthetic smears Cameradrives are your kind of exercise.
The longer your lens the narrower your field of view, too. Everything moves a lot faster in a car than you expect it to so you need to know what you’re shooting before it even gets in front of your lens. If you’re trying to pick out a composition as you roll through the intersection you’re gonna have a bad time. Just be ready and shoot as fast as you can and hope you hit the mark.
It helps having a patient driver as well who knows his way around the location. Our outing was a simple exercise for myself so there was no reason to backtrack but in general it’s better to go around the block four times than to be an obstruction to traffic if you’re trying to get a very specific shot.
Cameradrives require a lot more trust in your settings and gear but with practice can still produce amazing results.
[Chicago, 2023]