A Fascinating & Simply Stunning View Of Chicago via Flash Street Photography

Many of Satoki Nagata’s images might seem to be multiple exposures or to have been manipulated in post production, but all are single exposures of Chicago’s nighttime. Trying to figure out a workaround for the city’s dark winter months, Nagata experimented with flash photography. When combined with lower shutter speed, this technique, which he uses in his series “Lights in Chicago,” creates ethereal photographs that appear to be layered.

This winter Chicago-based photographer Satoki Nagata produced a series of abstract, black and white street portraits of people caught in the frigid elements. Nagata says that he lights his figures from behind with a flash using a slow shutter speed and doesn’t rely on double exposures or glass reflections as it may appear. The results are some pretty striking photographs of people that look nearly transparent yet appear to be almost perfectly surrounded by a crisp halo of light. Nagata’s primary work centers around documentary photography which is also well worth a look.