HP_061319

hplandmark.com life & Arts
the highland park landmark | June 13, 2019 | 27
Heller Nature Center displays photos of HP beach
Erin Yarnall, Editor
Highland Park resident
Paul Lucas didn’t set out
to capture images for an
exhibit when he took pictures
at Highland Park’s
Rosewood Beach in 2012
and 2013.
He just wanted to capture
images of the lake at
historically low levels.
But 20 of his favorite
images that the photographer
took have been hung
at the Heller Nature Center
in Highland Park, and
are on display through
June 27.
“It was early into what I
consider the beginning of
my serious photography
career,” Lucas said. “The
lake was close and easy, it
was good to learn and develop
my compositions.”
Lucas said what attracted
him to the lake is
that it is “ever-changing.”
He would take pictures of
the scenes from the same
beach nearly every weekend
for a few months.
“Some of it has been
changed because Rosewood
Beach has been
completely relandscaped,
but a lot of the submerged
rocks and the old,
I guess it’s leftover from
decks, there’s posts in the
water,” Lucas said. “I
guess they were for piers,
or something for boaters
to connect to, but there’s
a lot of those that are submerged
now. I roam between
Highland Park all
the way up to Waukegan
looking at the lakefront.
What was visible then,
back in 2012 and 2013,
those are all submerged
now.”
Lucas has always felt
most interested in landscape
photography —
which captures nature. He
Paul Lucas took photos of Lake Michigan from Rosewood Beach in 2012 and 2013, which are now on display at the Heller Nature Center.
Photo submitted
said he felt inspired by
photographers like Ansel
Adams and Elliot Porter,
both known for their images
of nature.
“It’s been a really interesting
combination of
things that I’ve incorporated
in my work,” Lucas
said. “I think it’s important
to take people to another
place in time and help
them experience nature
without necessarily being
there. But sometimes it’s
just being there in the moment.”
Due to the nature of his
work, some days worked
out for him to get images
that he felt proud of, and
other days his photography
didn’t turn out in his
favor.
Despite this, Lucas was
always able to take something
away from his experience.
“A lot of times photography,
especially landscape
photography, it’s
kind of hit and miss on a
particular day you go out,”
Lucas said. “But it’s a way
to slow down and pace
yourself, and really think
about your composition
and timing.”
Since taking the photos,
Lucas has expanded
his photography career.
He taught at Lisle’s Morton
Arboretum and now
teaches photography at the
Chicago Botanic Garden
in Glencoe.
“I still continue to do
work at Lake Michigan,
but as I was looking back
at my portfolio, that time
period, the lake was very
low and just observationally,
I noticed I couldn’t
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create those kind of images
again,” Lucas said.
He also works as a photographer
for the Lake
County Forest Preserves
and DuPage County Forest
Preserves.
S ilver V iew
“It’s kind of like being
in the moment,” Lucas
said about landscape
photography. “It’s experiencing
a moment to get
outside and experience nature.
It energizes me.”
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