chicago

Photos Document Remote Learning at a Chicago Elementary School

As COVID-19 began spreading through the United States in 2020, Chicago Public Schools, like many school systems around the country, decided to have all of its 350,000 students attend class remotely from home. Chicago-based photographer Ludvig Perés picked up his camera and began documenting this radical change to the lives of students, teachers, and their families.

My Friend Sent Me on a Photo Quest During Social Distancing

My friend Jon Gilchrist and I were talking about cabin fever and ways to stay active while also socially distancing during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He had the idea to come up with a route on Google Earth and Street View for me to bike and take a few pictures on.

I Shoot Instax Photos That Document Victims of Violence in Chicago

In 2016, there were 762 murders in Chicago, the most by far anywhere in the United States -- more than the total of New York and Los Angeles combined. This year there have already been over 600 homicides. I was born and raised in Canada, where there are fewer murders in the entire country than Chicago has in one year.

POV: Street Photography on the Sidewalks of Chicago

Street photographer Keenan Hastings released this short 2-minute video that shares his point-of-view during some photos he shot in Chicago recently. We see him roaming the sidewalks of the city in search for interesting people and photos with his Fujifilm X-T1, XF 35mm lens, and a GoPro camera.

The Previously Unseen Work of 70s Chicago Nightlife Photographer Michael Abramson

The late Michael L. Abramson forever sealed into emulsion the energy and emotion of Chicago nightlife. From blues clubs to strip clubs, his photography revealed a side of the Windy City that had never really been documented before.

To honor just some of his life work, a posthumous exhibition titled Michael L. Abramson: Pulse of the Night is currently being put on by the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Columbia College Chicago Library.

Chicago Skylines and Thick Fog Make For Surreal Urban Landscape Photos

Photographer Michael Salisbury is a determined Chicagoan with a desire to slow down and capture the world around him in the most vivid and compositional of ways. It was last month, after a string of severe storms, that he had the opportunity to combine his love for the Windy City’s architecture with some surreal fog that coated the beaches and skyscrapers of Chicago like a blanket. The series is titled June Fog, and the results are astounding.

When Photos DO Lie: High School Student ‘Flip Off’ Photo Sparks Outrage

The photo above clearly shows star Stevenson High basketball player Jalen Brunson flipping off the crowd... or does it? The photo, which has caused an online firestorm and almost got the youngster suspended from a tournament, is being called into question after video and another photographer's coverage show that it captured something that only existed for a fraction of a second -- a moment that was gone before anyone present saw it.

Chicago Sun-Times Reaches Agreement with Union, Will Re-hire a Few Photogs

News regarding the Chicago Sun-Times and its former photo staff is usually of the negative variety. Whether we were covering how the entire staff was unceremoniously laid off, or the fact that they were being replaced by iPhone photography classes, there hasn't been much positive news to report.

That changes today (at least to some degree) thanks to a settlement between Sun-Times Media and a newsroom employees union that managed to get four of the 28 photographers their jobs back, and secure a $2,000 one-time payout for the rest.

Photojournalist Buddies Stage a Friendly Instagram Photo Battle

There's nothing like a friendly competition among peers to make a road trip that much more enjoyable, and when you can get a few thousand people to join in and judge the outcome, that's even better. That's what photojournalists and friends Eric Thayer and Joshua Lott did recently when they found themselves in a midst of an impromptu Instagram battle.

Documentary: The Life and Work of Vivian Maier, the Unknown Nanny Photographer

Vivian Maier never saw much recognition for her work. When she passed away four years ago in 2009, her treasure trove of over 150,000 photographs had only just been discovered by accident, and didn't begin receiving critical acclaim until after she had already passed.

Called a "poet of suburbia," this nanny photographer -- "Mary Poppins with a camera" -- is now one of the most celebrated photographers of our time, and this hour-long BBC One documentary takes a closer look at her story.

Starry Street Photos of Chicago Captured Using an Off-Camera Flash

Japanese photographer Satoki Nagata moved to Chicago in 1992 to document the city and its people. His background is in neuroscience (he has a PhD in the field), but his passion is creating intimate documentary photography projects in his city.

During a recent winter, Nagata decided to try his hand at using a flash for street photography at night. Instead of mounting his flash to his camera, however, he decided to use it off camera. Combined with the light rain and falling snow, the flash turned many of his photographs into abstract and surreal images that almost look as though he overlaid photographs of stars.

Photos of a Chicago Warehouse Turned Into an Ice Cube After Major Fire

This past Tuesday, a major fire gutted an abandoned warehouse in Chicago. More than 50 fire companies and nearly 200 firefighters were summoned to the scene to battle the blaze. What's interesting is that temperatures in the area were so low that the water used to put out the fire quickly froze, turning the building into a giant block of ice.