One of the nice things about doing a sunrise shoot at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago is that there’s very little traffic getting there, and not so many people there that early. So we largely have the whole place to ourselves.

The key thing is to get there early. I like to start shooting around 20 minutes before sunrise, so we need to arrive much earlier than that. It’s a very soft light prior to sunrise. We have two different options for this. One is on this wall just south of the planetarium with a look out to Lake Michigan where the sun will be rising.

But my favorite shots are on the north side of the Planetarium where you can see the city skyline. Take a look at the shots below to get a sense of which shot you prefer. One of the pictures below is a wide shot of the wall taken during one of my workshops, just so you can get a sense of the space.

The dancer with the skyline behind was taken right at sunrise.

SUNRISE

The first few moments of sunrise is very dramatic. It starts soft, and then gets more dramatic as the sun edges it way above Lake Michigan. The pavement, where I shoot these shots, are wet and can be slippery as you get closer to the edge, nearing the lake. So as long as you stay away from the edge, you can possibly do some leaps, but I largely like to focus on static poses.

Once the sun is up, we have different places that we can go for some interesting shots around the Planetarium building. One of those shots is on the stairs leading up to the entrance. Here are a few examples.

From the stairs, we go up to the entrance of the Adler Planetarium. The entrance is a wall of glass windows that create an amazing reflection in the early morning light. Take a look at some these images and think about how you’d like to pose with your reflection.

The shot below is not from the Adler Planetarium, but gives you another idea of what would work with these reflective windows.

Once we’re done with the reflection shots, there are a few more places around the Planetarium I like to shoot at, and then you can also get some shots on the grass with the lake and then the skyline in the background. Since most of these shots are from workshops that I have run, and I don’t always have time to get all the shots I want when I’m helping others with their shots, I’m going to include some skyline and other shots that were taken later in the day but are a good representative of what we can capture during a sunrise photo shoot.

If you’d like to set up a sunrise shoot at the Adler Planetarium, or any other type of shoot, please call us at 224-288-3076 or email us at info@ronmckinneyphoto.com