February Freeze

Plate 3 from the Chicago: Light, Shadow and Steel Collection

This blue hour panorama documents the sub-zero lakefront shoreline, where the ice encrusted North Avenue Beach Pier cuts a sharp diagonal across the frozen water.

A stark visual essay of seasonal isolation and winter severity during the deep blue hour.

Chicago’s Urban shoreline at its most unyielding. The ice-encrusted North Avenue Beach Pier cuts across the pancake ice-coated water, separating the natural force of Lake Michigan from the illuminated city beyond. Long exposure and exposure blending preserve the deep winter shadows and fading end of the blue hour light, reducing the scene to light, shadow, ice and structure.

Behind the lens: Creating this image required spending several hours on the frozen pier, working in sub-zero temperatures surrounded by shifting pancake ice. The conditions demanded careful field technique to secure the necessary source exposures. Back in the studio, extensive post processing and exposure blending were required to seamlessly merge the brackets, balancing the dense winter shadows and high contrast ice reflections to replicate the raw atmosphere of that evening.