I've been in a funk lately, not with photography, but what I consider the most enjoyable part about the craft for me. When I first started I was lost, I sucked at shooting people, covering events and family photos, but I always thought I was decent, not good, but decent at capturing moments. Back then I shot with a manual lens, so when I made the shift to Fujifilm and an auto focus setup I thought things would be 10x easier.

Unfortunately after being forced to sell my Fujifilm X100T for financial reasons I had lost that flame. I think that camera gave me a sense of confidence, and character that I didn't mentally possess, and every since it's been gone, so have I. That's not to say I haven't got out there at all, as you can see from some of my most recent Camera Therapy segments I've made some attempt, but they haven't been fueled with the same passion as ones in the recent past.

I thought maybe I needed a new lens. I've been so accustomed to shooting with a 35mm (FF) that maybe my XF 18 or XF 35 didn't cut it. I looked around at a few options, I just couldn't afford any of them, my best bet was possibly buying a new camera, but that just seemed like an excuse to finance new equipment, so I opted against that. I then remember some old articles I read over at Eric Kim's blog. He always said that buying a photography book or taking a trip was more beneficial than buying gear to refuel your passion.

Rereading these articles really helped me, not only have I been in a funk in terms of street photography, but my personal life as well, so a trip didn't sound too bad. I knew money was tight, and with the lack of babysitting I knew I couldn't be gone for any extended period. This narrowed my options down to Chicago for 1 day... exciting I know.

My bus ride started at 9:30 AM, I was set to arrive in Chicago around 2:30. I had no place to stay during my day, and I had never been so excited to go shoot in my life. I brought all these business cards, 6 batteries, 2 lenses, and high hopes. Chicago was so full of life, it was so many people, and I knew the moments would crush anything I see at home. I think when you travel you find a new found appreciation for simple things. Sure at home we have skyscrapers, people, landmarks and tourist, but it was far more interesting elsewhere.

When I arrived at 2:30 I began walking, I remember the last time I was there I saw they were opening a Uniqlo, so I headed back that way, this was back in November of 2014, so I knew it had been open for business. Sadly when I arrived to that destination it was no where to be found, during that walk I didn't even take my camera out, so I was a bit bummed out. By the time I had started to shoot it was 3:45, I had wasted an 75 minutes or so, but I was certain not to waste another.

I looked around for distinct moments, ones I could come home and show my girlfriend and she could understand why it was so important for me to leave. I think this mentally, looking for that "big shot", caused me to lose focus on what was going on around me. The first shot I took was of one of the bike sharing companies they had there. I had no idea why I took this photo, maybe I thought I'd be riding on at one point and it would be good for the blog. The next one was of a lady who was sitting by a window that had a fake living room in it, from a certain angle it looked as if she was in the living room, or sitting on the furniture, I thought this was a cool shot, but the composition could have been better to really give it that effect.