IRVING PARK — An Old Irving Park native piloted his drone to get some nifty photos of the construction underway at Carl Schurz High School.

The $2.7 million project to install a new athletic field began in September and will add a regulation-sized soccer field, softball field, water fountain and a running track to the school’s campus. Once construction is complete, the fields and the track will be open to the public during non-school use.

Photographer Patrick Gorski lives in the area and decided to send his done up to get some aerial photos of the ongoing construction.

Schurz athletic field renovations in full swing @45thWardChicago pic.twitter.com/rkIDQxlxNI — Patrick Gorski (@patgorski) October 11, 2018

“Drones have advanced pretty quickly in a very short period of time,” Gorski said, adding that drones are now just as precise as the cameras he would use to do photo assignments.

Gorski grew up in Old Irving Park and lives about five houses away from Schurz. He said his interest in photography began when he was a student at St. Viator Elementary School and continued when he attended St Patrick High School.

He first noticed the field construction when traffic was backed up on Waveland Avenue.

RELATED: Construction On Carl Schurz High School’s New $2.7 Million Athletic Field Begins Friday

As a high school student he photographed his school’s basketball games and then started freelancing locally, with his work appearing in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, USA Today and Washington Times by the time he was 19.

When he’s not working, Gorski attends Triton College. He plans to transfer to University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Photo courtesy Patrick Gorski.

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