ML - Michigan Avenue

Michigan Avenue - 2016 - Issue 6 - Winter - Dwyane Wade

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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8 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELISE SWOPES FROZEN CITY SOCIAL MEDIA STAR ELISE SWOPES CAPTURES THE WONDER OF WINTER IN CHICAGO. BY VICTORIA GREENWALD With a dash of whimsy (and an occasional giraffe), Instagrammer extraordinaire Elise Swopes captures the magic of Chicago's snowy season. Anyone can snap a snowflake pic these days, but no one documents winter in the Windy City quite like iPhone artist Elise Swopes (@swopes). "When it starts getting cold, I'm like Yes, I can finally be myself," the 26-year-old South Loop resident says. Thriving in the chill, Swopes loves walking through downtown mid-storm to immortalize the flurries. "There's something so dramatic and cinematic [about] it," the Gurnee native enthuses. A full-time freelance design artist, Swopes has garnered an Instagram following of more than 250,000 thanks to her whimsically manipu- lated skylines and colors, but she considers the snow so filmic that she often sets aside her fantasy- filled editing techniques for a more stripped-down realism. Her favorite icy pic—captioned "first snowfall in Chicago" and featuring snow-laden branches and slushy sidewalks in an eerily empty Millennium Park—has 11,300 likes and counting; the view from the top of the Adams and Wabash L stop is another must-snap frosted spot. But for this photo phenom, most remarkable are the moments when "the snow is falling, no people around, and just these giant skyscrap- ers," with the city seemingly at rest. "[There's this awesome kind of surrealistic emptiness," says Swopes. "That's what makes winter memorable." Go to michigan avemag.com to read Elise Swopes's insider's guide to Chicago. . FULL FRONTAL

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