I love Chicago because it's where I taught myself take photos. I spent 20 years there and got to know my favorite photo spots pretty well. My wife and I decided to move out west to Denver in spring 2014, so I wanted to do one last big photo project so I could take some memories with me when we moved.
So during winter 2014, I'd wake up super-early and trek down to Lake Michigan and our local beaches (Foster Beach and Montrose Harbor on the city's northside). It was about a 20-minute, and very cold, walk to the beach. But I felt like the walk was a necessary part of the project because it would "psych" me up for the cold and windy lake weather and gave me some time to think about what I wanted accomplish each morning.