Stunning Photo Shows This Week's Lake-Effect Snow From Above

By Rachel Cromidas in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 16, 2017 8:55PM

When Reddit brought our attention to this beautiful photo of the city's recent lake-effect snowfall from above, we had to know more. The photographer, Nick Ulivieri, filled us in on how he got the shot, from the John Hancock Center's 360 observation deck.

"Right place, right time, right light. That mantra overrides a lot of my work," Ulivieri told us via email. "I love capturing mother nature interacting with the man-made urban environment of Chicago, and more often than not, to get the most dramatic images, you just have to be be there to catch it when it happens."

Ulivieri frequently takes panoramic city photos via helicopter, but he says this recent photo was taken "from the safety and warmth" of the Hancock Center's observatory. He said he went up there specifically looking for a good shot of the wintry scene—noting that snow has been hard to come by in Chicago this year.

"I'd love to catch a storm from a helicopter someday, but that's tough to plan—and high winds can make safe flight difficult, if not impossible," he said.

"I've always been a fan of extreme weather because it usually results in unique lighting and sky conditions, which can result in dramatic photos," he added. "'Fair' weather is boring to me, photographically speaking, so I get excited when my weather photos get other people excited for 'bad' weather."