Make no little plans.

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” -Daniel Burnham

It is my distinct honor to welcome you all to The Windy Pixel and it’s inaugural post! Consider this a photographic conversation with the city – an excuse to get out and experience a city we too often taken for granted. We take the words of that great Chicagoan Daniel Burnham to heart and we have big plans for this website – we aim to document this hulking metropolis in a new and interesting way and collect an engaged and photo-hungry audience along the way. Come here every day to see a new photograph and read our musings. Like what you see? Grab a free desktop wallpaper (below) or buy a print! Know a great piece of Chicago? Send us a mail or leave a comment and share your secrets. Most importantly, stop by every day and leave a comment – we’d love to hear from you!

That rare and long-awaited moment of capitulation being just around the corner, when the springtime sun graces us with warmer temps and the promise of the verdant season to come, and with no intention of rekindling any bad memories of this bitterly cold winter, I post the following photo. When I was an undergraduate, I used to ride the 6 along Lake Shore Drive very early in the morning. My interest in photography was on the upswing and I wanted to capture the feeling of looking over the ice at the city beyond. But alas, I was a sleepy college student and I didn’t miss many meals back then. The image I had in mind bears little if any resemblance to the one below, but like all things in life, it is the result of fortuitous distraction on the road from point A to points unknown.

Early January had seen plummeting temperatures and the lake was solid ice behind the breakers. We’d left hoping for a sunrise, but instead we got these gorgeous blue and pink hues through the overcast skies and the early morning lights of the city burning to the south. Michigan’s blue waters rolled in gentle swells. The slushy waves nibbled at the ice sheets, slowly cracking and breaking away little bits as deeper waters surged to replenish the shelf. I stepped out onto the seawall to capture the city twinkling over Lake Michigan’s icy grasp. Sublime, perilous, frigid and colorful – Chicago in a nutshell.

Mike steps out to capture the moment:

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