Lake Video: Cadence, 2019

The shift from one season to the next marks the passage of time in this lake video from artist Lincoln Schatz. Seasons are at once knowable and elusive in character. Each year, the seasons present us with new variations upon an old theme. But how do we understand or experience that shift in time? What do, for example, three months, a summer lake video, even look like? Cadence takes up these questions and gives us a way of seeing a season transform before our eyes. Using photographs captured over this period of time, we’re able to create an ever-shifting world of sky, clouds and water.

The Rhythms of Lake Michigan

We can watch beautiful days turn into stormy nights in this lake video. Here, piercing blue skies and water of summer begin to shift into the cooler and more restrained palettes of fall. However, even with the predictable patterns of each season, the lake, and the surrounding landscape, always surprise. Moreover, it’s that element of chance and surprise that keeps this video from becoming knowable. As each day slips into the next, like water moving along the shores by my feet.

A Lake Video That Explores the Passage of Time

This is a summer lake video that is a contemplation of time and place. It is a way to meditate on the world we live in but often forget to notice in our daily lives. It is a push back against the ever-present distractions of a digital world. Each day moves into the next, waves and clouds morph over time and water and sky change color. Cadence, a lake video, is another way of thinking about Lake Michigan and the passage of time. As we move from one season to the next our expectations as to what they will bring propel us forward in a perpetual rhythm.

Cadence, a lake video, chronicles three months, from May through July 2019, as seen daily from the shores of Lake Michigan here in Chicago. View more photos and videos of from the Lake Series and behind the scenes shots on Instagram. Or view the entire Lake Series, here.