How we captured Pac-Man cosplayers at the ‘CHIditarod’ shopping cart race

This week’s top photo comes from Visual Journalist Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, and Instagram.

What makes this photo great?

A lot of elements came together to make this image special, including how the image is framed. The loading bay of Goose Island Tap House created a great backdrop and the straight-on composition is thematically reminiscent of the 2D look of the classic 1980s Namco arcade game. I also had great luck that the subjects instinctively knew how to run along in line being chased by their Pac-Man shopping cart just like in the video game.

How did you get the shot?

Much of this job is thinking on your feet, being creative on demand, and , most of all, luck. This was the first year I’ve ever covered the wacky but wholesome ‘CHIditarod’ shopping cart race and bar crawl, a fun event that raises funds to fight food insecurity. So when the starting whistle blew, I ran with them capturing whatever images I could along the way. Once I got to the Goose Island Tap House I was a bit gassed running full tilt to keep up with the carts. I was also drawn to the loading doc because of the gout of steam that was blowing, and got into position to take photos of participants of ‘CHIditarod’ that were going by. As luck would have it, the characters of the 1980’s video game were right there too.

Technical details: