For Terry Maday, Chicago offers not only incredible restaurants and museums, but also amazing views.
The award-winning Evanston native has been in the videography business for nearly 30 years. For his most recent project, he sought to capture the Windy City in ways that couldn’t be achieved from down on the ground.
Maday, 56, is one of 15 photographers featured in “Above and Across Chicago,” a new book from Trope Publishing with a collection of photographs taken from helicopters, atop skyscrapers and with drones. The book includes unique views of Lake Michigan, the Chicago skyline and the Lincoln Park Zoo’s winter light display.
“I just helped execute the story, but I feel lucky to be a small part of it,” Maday told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Maday first picked up a DJI Inspire 1 drone in 2016. He said drones, as tool, have been a transformational for his work.
“It’s hard to overstate the game-changing ability of a drone,” he said. “A drone is an incredible tool. I can get a bird’s-eye view and move it exactly to where I want to be without moving from where I’m standing.”
Several of Maday’s photographs are featured in the book, but his favorite is one that doesn’t even look like it’s Chicago.
“It’s a view along Michigan Avenue,” he said. “We, of course, all know Michigan Avenue but as you look South it doesn’t even look like Chicago. It’s not even an epic shot to me — and some of the shots in this book are epic — but it just looks different to me. … I’m always trying to find angles that would surprise someone.”
Maday said the day he took that shot, he was aiming to photograph Cindy’s Rooftop in the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. All it took was turning his camera south, and he ended up with a surprise.
“I saw those buildings way in the background,” he said. “I just thought if I could get close to the building in the foreground I could create a really interesting perspective.”
Another of Maday’s featured photos is of The Bean at Millennium Park in winter. Access to the iconic Chicago landmark closed down last year as the plaza undergoes renovations. Instead of tourists, the sculpture is ringed by fences.
Maday took the current state of the construction site as an opportunity.
“I captured The Bean, which to be honest it’s disappointing that it’s under construction,” he said, “but as photographers we often say, ‘It’s not a beautiful shot, but it is a moment in time.’”
Though he works with all kinds of cameras, Maday said drones are a tool like no other. And while the quality of images and videos using drones is incredible, there are extra steps required to ensure a safe flight.
“Working with drones is part science, part art,” he said. “You’re flying for the art, but you have to be really diligent about where you’re taking off from, where you’re landing, or if you’re flying over people or over traffic. You need to be really smart and take time to plan and it’ll pay of in the end.”
In the eight years he’s been using drones, Maday said the quality of the tool has increased exponentially. He said while the size and weight of the flying machines has reduced, the quality of the images has increased.
“There is a time and a place for larger drones where you integrate a cinema camera onto a larger platform, but the smaller, lighter all-in-one options on the market are amazing,” he said. “On the motion side, we are able to create beautifully dynamic moves that elevate the production value of our work.”
He felt that the biggest photographic advancement was a feature called Auto Exposure Bracketing. “This allows the camera to capture five photos in rapid succession, which maximizes the exposure across highlights and shadows,” he said. “This is a particularly important feature to utilize when trying to shoot high contrast scenes like sunrise or sunset.”
Maday said he wouldn’t have become a videographer if it wasn’t for his brother Tom’s influence. His brother, who is another Chicago-based photographer, introduced him to cameras and gave him the push to get in the videography business.
Maday attended the University of Kansas and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1991. Though he wanted to study film, he said, there was no hands-on curriculum for film and video production at the time.
He went on to start his own business. Maday Productions, which opened in 1996, is a video production company that helps create content for other companies.
“I wanted to tell stories that were in motion, and after almost 30 years I still absolutely love what I do,” he said. “You go out and you come back and realize that you’ve created something and it’s so satisfying. I feel so lucky that I got involved in a business that allows it to be so gratifying and so fulfilling.”
Now Maday works with a small team of creators that includes his daughter Michaela, who helps run the business’ social media accounts.
He hopes to continue working in the business for as long as he can and though he loves the travel that comes with his job, Chicago holds a special place in his life.
“Chicago is filled with so much talent and I love continuously discovering new things here,” he said. “I just think Chicago is continuing to evolve and change. I like discovering new places, whether that’s restaurants, people or museums — and that includes new angles too.”
