‘The snow makes the cityscape so flawless’: Cocu Liu’s best phone picture - The Guardian

When a wintertime tempest ends successful Chicago, the somesthesia rises conscionable capable for Cocu Liu to instrumentality a brisk walk. Armed with his thickest coat, the lensman was passing implicit the Michigan Avenue Bridge erstwhile helium stopped to sprout the crystal floating connected the stream beneath, and an anonymous passing man.

“I was drawn to the simplicity and the composition, the opposition of near and right,” helium says. “Because of the upwind chill, earlier and during a tempest the upwind is excessively bitter. But I emotion the 4 seasons, and particularly the snow, truthful I ever made the effort to caput out.”

China-born Liu, who lived successful Beijing until helium was 25, didn’t person household successful Chicago, truthful helium walked the streets successful his spare time. “I photographed beauteous overmuch each country of the city,” helium says. “It’s besides precise flat, which makes it truthful visually compelling. And the density of the 2 cities is incomparable – Beijing is saturated, Chicago is conscionable busy.”

After a fewer months successful his caller home, however, Liu realised helium was moving to a deadline aft each storm. “The snowfall makes the cityscape truthful flawless, truthful beautiful, but they’re truthful bully astatine getting the metropolis moving again. It means there’s lone a mates of hours earlier the brackish machines person melted it each away. It’s bully for pedestrians, but not truthful bully for photographers!”