This week’s top photo comes from Assistant Photo Editor and Visual Journalist Pat Nabong. Follow her on Instagram.
What makes this photo important?
Black Friday isn’t what it used to be, at least from a photographer’s point of view.
I’ve been covering Black Friday since I started at the Sun-Times in 2020. It’s become somewhat of a tradition of mine. And every year, it’s the same story of sparse shoppers on the street, speculating about why there aren’t as many people as they expected: in 2020, COVID; in the years after, online shopping; and this year people at Magnificent Mile and other big box stores blamed the economy, deals that aren’t steals, the weather (which was freezing that morning) and immigration enforcement fears. Gone are the days of people fighting over televisions.
This image is a sign of the times. The light shining on a single shopper and the shadows in the barely decorated storefront allude to a “bleak Friday,” as our print headline described it.
How I got this picture
I noticed harsh light shining on that spot on the street and positioned myself right in front of the window. I knew I needed a human figure to make the photo more interesting and to illustrate the story, so I waited for a pedestrian carrying a shopping bag to walk into the frame.
Technical details:
Equipment: Sony A7IV
Focal length: 24mm
Aperture: f/9.0
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 250
15 more great photos from Sun-Times photojournalists:
Cole Sheridan stands outside on the West Side on Nov. 21. Sheridan’s assault case was dismissed after being accused of pushing and taking a swing at U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino during a protest in early October outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, .
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Dozens of people hold candles during a vigil on Wednesday to commemorate the 56th anniversary of the death of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Participants were outside the house at 2337 W. Monroe St, where the two men were assassinated. Survivors of the raid attended the event, which included a dedication ceremony for a plaque that’s part of the Black Panther Heritage Trail.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Fred Hampton Jr., who is wearing a blue hat, gets into a scuffle with security during a vigil on Wednesday to commemorate the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Machine Gun Kelly performs at the All State Arena in suburban Rosemont on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Clients, who stay in La Casa Norte shelters and requested that their name be kept private, interact at La Casa Norte’s North Avenue drop-in center in Humboldt Park on Tuesday.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
People walk their dogs through a snow-covered park near Belmont Harbor as snow falls on Wednesday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Travelers wait for their ride amid a winter storm warning outside O’Hare International Airport on Nov. 29.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Christina Chae, co-owner of Golden Year, prepares a “No Means No” non-alcoholic cocktail in her East Village neighborhood cocktail bar on Nov. 28.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Teacher Lauren Oberlin leads a class at Wildlight Yoga’s Mindful Market, which spotlighted makers and healers on Small Business Saturday, in Portage Park on Nov. 29.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Enrique Espinoza, immigration attorney at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, sits inside the school’s library on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Gov. JB Pritzker signs IL HB 767 into law during a news conference in the West Loop, on Tuesday. The legislation expands vaccine access and codifies Executive Order 2025-04, which empowers the Illinois Department of Public Health to offer vaccine guidelines.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Snow dusts the pinnacles of the First United Methodist Church in the Loop on Sunday after the snowiest November day ever recorded in Chicago.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Commuters wait Thursday for their train at the State and Lake Station in the Loop, which will close in January for reconstruction.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
An employee at River North Collision Repair, who goes by “Surge,” works on the bumper of a vehicle in the West Town auto shop on Thursday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Owner Laura Yepez sits in the kitchen of Wicker Park Inn on the West Side on Nov. 28. Yepez said many reservations were cancelled because of uncertainty around travel amid the government shutdown.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
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