Opportunity Meets Ability

Some say "luck" is nothing more than opportunity meeting ability. That if you're prepared and patient, eventually something lucky will happen to you. For photographers, luck can have some visually stunning results.

We were on the last day of a 7-day shoot in Chicago recently and we wanted to take a nice dusk shot downtown with the river, reflections and city traffic across the bridges. But, with our chunky rental van, dwindling meter money and lack of knowledge of downtown Chicago, we were feeling discouraged about finding a nice vantage point. So instead, we just went to the last shot on our list: an elevator lobby on Canal Street.

Then some luck happened.

When we found a parking spot, we noticed that the lot was directly on the river at a major fork, showing all of the buildings and reflections. But, there were railroad tracks, trees and other obstructions between us and the scene. Luckily, someone had built some 30' scaffolding on the edge of the parking lot, perfectly positioned for the view we wanted. So, Jeff Herron and I climbed up with our equipment and needless to say, we got a great shot (which I can't post because I haven't yet delivered it to the client). In the meantime, you can enjoy this "making of" shot taken by Chris Michel, a Miami graphic designer and photographer.