the photography:
when i say st. patrick’s day, what’s the first food that comes to your head? 95% of americans will answer corned beef and cabbage. and when i say corned beef, 95% of chicagoans will immediately start salivating and thinking of Manny’s deli.

one of the oldest deli’s in the midwest, Manny’s Deli is a staple for most of the chicago food community. family owned and operated since just after World War II, Manny’s has been a foodie must-have for anyone looking for the best corned beef and pastrami sandwiches West of the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel (and i, among others, would argue that they are just as good if not better than the sandwiches East of those landmarks).

but i’m not here to bore you with historical facts and mouthwatering tidbits. this place is just plain famous for being itself. everyone from US President Barrack Obama, to Chicago Mayor Daley make a point of stopping by and eating at Manny’s when they are in the neighborhood. you just can’t walk by and smell the food without heading in the door. when i was asked to take some products shots of their mouthwatering food, how could i pass up the chance?

so, in honor of st. patrick, and in honor of chicago’s most legendary eatery, i bring to you, deli sandwich photography pornography.

before you ask any questions, the sandwich in the fourth photo is in fact, a breakfast rueben. you read that correctly… a breakfast rueben. oh dear lord it’s as good as it sounds. photos are with the 5DMKII and the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. everything was shot on location with natural light.

the music:
Chin Up Chin Up were one of those bands that succeeded in the face of adversity. even with something as profound and hard hitting as the death of their founding bass player overshadowing the recording of their first record, this band trudged on and made a career out of jangling some indie-rock guitars together and producing some great tunes. i had a chance to see them live a handful of times and with each performance, they crafted indie pop perfection with a groove all their own.

in 2009 and with only two full length records and re-released self titled EP as their mark on the industry, Chin Up Chin Up called it a day and broke up. their presence in the chicago independent music scene will sorely be missed. reunion show? too soon…

the photography:
SIDE NOTE FROM THE LAST POST: so i have one clarification to make about the music from the last post. my wife noted last night that if it were not for her, i would not have listened to that stellastarr* song so much. this statement could not be more true. i love my wife and during our early days of courting, i would play whatever music that she liked so i could keep her attention on the music and not on the fact that the floor of the passenger seat of my subaru was covered in empty dunkin donuts extra large coffee cups. oh… and i tried to hide the fact that i’m a steering wheel drummer. that didn’t go so swell…

here is more of our china trip revisited. images are from our stay in beijing. we spent much of our time walking along the enormous (and i mean really large) streets near the forbidden city as well as taking some side trips out to see the great wall and some of the larger temples outside of beijing proper. the forbidden city and the waterways that surround it are some of the most interesting places on earth to people watch. fishermen, peddlers, tourists, students, you name, they’re here.

amazingly the only thing that bothered me about beijing (besides the fact that it reminded me of not only LA but also of the couple miles of Western Avenue in Chicago north of North Ave and south of Howard) was the air pollution. not only was it everywhere but it was dense and thick and awful. i have had asthma since i was in 5th grade and i have never been in a tougher situation than walking the streets of beijing. it was like breathing through an exhaust pipe on a car without a catalytic converter while smoking three cigarettes. ok… maybe it wasn’t that bad… but it was pretty awful. looking back on it, i didn’t even worry about the air while i was there because everything else was so amazing and new and intriguing that i didn’t let it bother me until after the fact.

mmmmmmmm. street food. stinky tofu has a scent all it’s own. it’s the closest thing to ipecac that i have had the pleasure of smelling.

sigh… it was a gorgeous city to say the least. this group of images is part 1 of 3. the photos were with the 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. did i mention earlier (in fact i did…) that for this entire trip i was wearing either flip flops or my blue dock-siders. true story.

the music:
volatile is probably too kind a word for the history of this band. as far as descriptives terms used for their live shows, i would pick “bombastic”, “thrilling”, “loud”, and “build it up so you can break down and/or blow it up”. don cab has been through more lineup changes than the smashing pumpkins yet the center of attention is always on their founding member and drummer, Damon Che. that dude slays.

so many time changes, so little time.

so many hammer-ons, so few fingers.

the photography:
there was a small break in the gorgeous spring weather here in chicago. yesterday and on into this morning, fog blanketed the north side of the city making for some awesome pictures and some wonky traffic jams. only in chicago would drivers be distracted by low lying clouds.

to set the tone of just how creepy it was outside, i also took some indoor shots of our back stairs and of our kitchen. my wife and i love to watch the CTA workers do their nightly rounds which include walking down the tracks past our house. once they hit a specific spot, they turn around and walk back up to the platform in an awkward single file line. we always joke that it’s the ‘Others’ from the the TV show Lost. last night, we were so entrenched in the cinematic quality of the weather that we actually got spooked by the whole ordeal. thus no photos of people walking on the train tracks in the fog. we were too busy hugging each other and laughing… oh well…

with the baby on it’s way any day now (holy crap i don’t know if i can wait any longer!!!!!) my blog posts have slowed to a trickle. i will make sure to post as much as i possibly can… when fog like this rolls in, i can’t help myself. i also have a good 6 blog posts (or so) containing my-trip-to-china photos waiting to be published… photos are with the 5D and the 28mm f1.8. no tripods were used. everything here is handheld. i’m still like that. enjoy.

the music:
stellastarr* channel not only the great 80’s rock gods, flock of seagulls, duran duran, but also the 70’s new wave bands that bred them, blondie, the cars, the knack, etc..

this ode to the nose candy is one of the best radio hits that never made it on to anything but college radio. it should be a dance club favorite, it should be on everyone’s ipod, it should be the cornerstone for post 80’s revival that’s been brewing and overflowing for the last 10 years but alas… this band just never got high enough off the ground. me thinks they tried to be too much like rainer maria and not enough like the ting tings. sigh.

the photography:
the fourth installment from my trip to hong kong is centered around the waterfront of the city and a small little day trip we took to Lamma (think Llama) island. Lamma island is most famous for it’s fishing villages and quaint seafood markets/restaurants but it’s also an enclave for hippy ex-pats. perfect. out of all of the places to hang out in southeast asia and i find the one that’s most like my home state of vermont. sweeeeet.

it was a really rad experience. Lamma island does not have any cars or traditional roads per se. everyone gets around by foot, bicycle, or by these little narrow work trucks that look like cushman’s sliced in half the long way. we hopped off the ferry and walked the entire island in a less than a couple of hours. the only drawback? it was 85 degrees with about 85 percent humidity. wow. i haven’t sweat through t-shirts that fast since my days playing ’sauna football’ (which is, in fact, a made up game where you can assume one sweats a lot because of the heat, humidity, and the weight of the football pads). this is what shows up in google if you type in the words ’sauna football’. too hot…

my favorite images from Lamma are from the dragon boat (i think that’s what they called the boat with the red flags flying ferry) which brings tourists to the island for what i can only assume is the chinese equivalent of the hawaiian luau. check the roast pig. tasty. also? the baywatch photo. you know which one i’m talking about. the entire beach on the backside (southeast) of Lamma island had a shark fence. yeah… i’m gonna go swimming… sure.

photos again were with the 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. in retrospect, if this were a photo-centric excursion, i probably would have brought my entire lens arsenal. but since we were meeting my sister-in-law and checking two duffel bags of her stuff back to the US, luggage room was at a bare minimum. this combo worked out great. versatility versus size/weight.

the music:
hella is one of those bands that makes music on a level that is all their own. ‘traditional pop songs’ is a phrase that doesn’t even come close to enter my brain when thinking about hella. the music is a combination of the incredibly talented Zach Hill on drums and the ‘also as incredibly talented’ yet weird bending guitar stylings of Spencer Seim. it’s an acquired taste of metal/indie/rock rhythms mixed with blips, cracks, circuit bending, and straight ahead strumming all with nasty time changes and what can only be best described as ‘time loses’.

sometimes it’s as if my bloody valentine made love with the black keys and mr. bungle jumped in right before conception. but most of the time hella’s music is closer to that of trans am

the photography:
i’m still on my kick of dragging up older photos but let’s be honest, if no one’s seen the photos (except for the family and friends who were bombarded when we returned from our trip), then no one knows what they look like. on that note? here is more of hong kong from the summer of 2008.

photos are mostly from our tram ride up victoria peak, from hanging out on the observation deck at the top, and from our time consuming (and mentally stressful) descent down through the city. you’ll notice that from the top of victoria, the skyscrapers play out before you in a stilt-like manor as if you could just leap out and jump from the top of one to another. it’s really quite breath-taking for an american tourist as we have nothing even close to this type of geography-meshed-with-cityscape stateside. it’s really remarkable. i liken hong kong’s skyline to “if las vegas and manhattan had a baby and it was raised on fresh fish and old boats”. that’s fairly esoteric but quite an interesting thought nonetheless. oh well. i need more coffee.

one of hong kong’s (and much of developed china can be lumped into this as well) powerful aesthetic visuals is the play and dichotomy between the new (buildings, materials, fancy cars, immense wealth) and the ancient (rickshaws, junk boats, 100 year old ferries, foot paths, peasant attire, straw brooms). it’s a beautiful juxtaposition. i snuck in one night photo that i took from our last night in hong kong. it was a beautiful but cloudy night. we went out and enjoyed some sushi and drinks from a 30th floor restaurant in kowloon and at one point, the clouds lifted and i got my shot. pretty awesome. laser lights, all night.

photos again were with the 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. for this entire trip i was wearing either flip flops or my blue dock-siders. true story.

the music:
my dad and my brother turned me onto the Jayhawks back in 1994 or so. i was knee deep in understanding Uncle Tupelo, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, and The Pietasters, all at the same time. confusion really doesn’t even start to describe my mix tapes.

but confusion is what best describes my musical tastes since those early days. to me, the Jayhawks are the perfect conduit between what i grew up on (Beach Boys, Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan, Abba, The Beatles, The Kinks, Tom Waits, The Moody Blues, The Grateful Dead) to what i discovered on my (or with help from my brother) own (Operation Ivy, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Mudhoney, The Dead Milkmen, My Bloody Valentine, Wilco, The Tragically Hip, The Get-Up Kids). and whenever i hear Gary Lewis’ voice, i just think of rolling along the hills of Vermont in my dad’s pickup, tapping my knees, and loving the beautiful mixture of rock and folk. it’s pretty blissful.

the photography:
one of the coolest things about hong kong is the open markets. fresh produce, souvenirs, antiques, metal, stones, jewelry, clothes, you name it, you can buy it. many of these open air markets (especially the fresh meats and fish markets) were closed during the SARS epidemic and hysteria of the early oughts. since then, a number of the markets have reopened and offered up their wares yet again. one of the most famous markets takes place at night. the Temple Street market roars into the darkness on the Kowloon peninsula with neon lights, strange and comforting food smells, and the constant chatter of tourists and locals alike. the whole experience made me feel like i was in the middle of the beginning of Blade Runner (sans downpour, flying cars, and edward james olmos…). it was fantastic. known these days for mostly souvenirs and t-shirts, there are still a number of quality vendors hawking more authentic wares such as antique chinese war propaganda, army hats, and bronze buddhas. and the food, oh my, the food. it’s a pretty rad experience.

when i travel to new cities, new countries, and new continents, my favorite scenes to photograph are scenes that include unaware locals interacting with their environments. as a constant tourist (i really dig visiting new places), i try to capture with my camera, locals in the middle of everyday life. it’s the photojournalist in me trying to break out. new york times cover, here i come…

also, you should still check it: Awkward in China, my sister-in-law’s blog about living there. it’s pretty fantastic, witty, and funny.

the hardest thing about photographing people in the dark without a tripod is ISO settings. people talk about gear via dollar amounts with the misconception that the more expensive a DSLR is, the better the photos are going to turn out. that would be utter bullshit. it’s just another tool to manipulate buyers into spending more money than they should be. more megapixels?! only if you are going to be printing wall sized portraits for your next ad campaign. chances are you’re just posting to your Flickr page (which i do fairly regularly i might add…).

PRO TIP: photos are going to be as good as the photographer taking them.

the only time more expensive gear is a must is when you are shooting images in varying places. high speed ISO is a must for sports photographers, quality low speed ISO is a must for photographers who shoot in low light. any time i can get rid of digital grain, i will spend extra money to do so. photos are with 5D and my EF24-105mm f/4.0L USM. love that combo.

the music:
i declare today to be, “Find your best cover on your iPod day”… .

so i went right for the jugular there. choices included but were not limited to: cowboy junkies – sweet jane, the pants – golgi apperatus, the pietasters – fiesta, rage against the machine – ghost of tom joad, reel big fish – gigantic, johnny cash – rusty cage, ted leo – since you been gone/maps, braid – alec eiffle, etc.

when you precede the beach boys cover with the songs, los angeles and i heard ramona sing, only to follow it up with fu manchu? i pick frank. mr. black, the stage is yours. rock me joey…

the photography:
two years ago this summer, my sister-in-law maeve, was living in china. that’s right. china. she was spending her junior year abroad from college traveling, studying, and honing her chinese language skills. she was also fulfilling her own personal dream of constantly being the most awkward person in the room. picture this: 5′10″ blond white girl amongst a dense asian population. she stuck out like a sore thumb. she even wrote a blog about it. check it: Awkward in China

now the reason i am telling you all about this is because just yesterday, maeve flew back to china for another 6 month stint. i’m so excited for her and i wish we could bring a new born baby (still in the womb but headed out shortly) with us to visit her. but alas… almost two years ago, cath and i spent a little under two weeks leapfrogging from shanghai, to beijing, to hong kong, and back to shanghai. it was an incredible journey with lots of stuff to see and experience. walking around the cities, seeing all the sights, hearing all the sounds, it was just an amazing experience. i could walk through the markets for the rest of my days, meeting merchants, haggling over squid heads (i never actually haggled over squid heads but i did witness it…), buying porcelain mao’s, and eating smelly tofu. i could do it all day, every day.

so since maeve is headed back to china, and since i don’t have a ton of time to take more photographs (as i am getting ready to welcome a new baby in about a month) i figure i could post a few sets of photos from our time in eastern asia. have i mentioned before that i would live in hong kong at the drop of a hat? all it would take was a good job offer and i would pack the family up in jiffy. i just don’t really like the 14 hour plane ride… jeez. i am

this first set is from walking around the streets of hong kong. photos were shot with the 5D and my EF 24-105mm f/4.0L USM. it was the perfect camera and lens package to not seem too much like a tourist but to still get everything i needed out of a camera and a zoom. sigh. i miss exploring in asia. it was just simply magical.

the music:
i may have spoken the wonders that are ‘the gentlemen’ on this blog before but let me re-iterate for those non-believers, non-listeners, and never-heard-ofs… these four men from the boston region kick so much ass, it’s not even funny. the gentlemen are a combination of two boston area (via upstate new york and connecticut) bands that have done their time in the eastern seaboard touring trenches. hardened living, hard drinking, fast women, and loud playing are the themes that run through their music.

they are just so damn good.

if any of these bands make it through your town, you need to be there. your life will never be the same:

the figgs

the gravel pit

the gentlemen

if all three play on the same bill? you can bet your sweet ass i’ll be there.

the photography:

Portrait #34 is Shannon

holy crap it’s been a while since i’ve posted one of these. if you think i went over board on the pictures… you should see the out takes. it was the toughest group of photos i have ever had to whittle down. jeeeeeez…

i first heard about miss shannon from a mutual friend via twitter. it was a mention here, a twitpic there, and before you know it, i was tracking her down for a chance to model for the the 50 Portraits Project. it’s crazy how social media and the online world works with all the idea-megaphones (blogs), personal advertisements (facebook pages), and instant friend-of-a-friend connections (you may know so-and-so). the fact that i can connect with and follow like-minded people from all over the world and check out their content, view their video blogs, and read about their creative process’ is mind blowing. like minded people should really band together. maybe that’s exactly what i’ve been trying to accomplish with this project. maybe i’ll call it my 50 Peeps Club when all is said and done…

shannon is one of those people that likes stuff that i like. shannon moonlights as a food/horror movie buff who writes and video blogs about the connections she makes between the two. her blog, Slash and Dine, and her videos pair recipes to fit bloody classics. when she’s not enjoying her time in the kitchen (and her time with her BFF #33, Miss Bake and Destroy, she’s styling hair and educating her fellow stylists at a high-end salon in chicago. judging from her personality, her outgoingness, and her overall demeanor, i’m guessing she has a lot of repeat clients who love her work (and that’s without factoring in her expert skills as a stylist). let’s all just agree that shannon is pretty flipping rad ok?!

currently, shannon really loves the color orange. the kitchen walls are covered in the most warming and comforting shade of orange. if given the chance, why not “go big” in the one room of the house that you spend the most amount of time in? any way you slice it (i have a lot of knife jokes…), it works smashingly. her design style and aesthetic shine through from the art work on the walls to the vintage chairs and table to the vases on the half wall. sigh… with all the natural light and spot-on layout, shannon could rent her kitchen to those photographers in need of a kitchen set. it’s totally sweet.

as a side note, it turns out shannon has done some modeling in the past but really? that should surprise no one. this girl has style, style, and more style. it was a pleasure getting to know her and it was a breeze taking pictures as all i had to do was sit back and soak it all in. please make sure to check out her writing and videos at Slash and Dine and at Brutal Snack when you get the chance. as usual, the photos were with the trusty 5DMKII and the always present, 28mm f1.8. cheers.

the music:

if you choose to look beyond the skin-deep visuals of hard core and punk rock in america there is one music scene that sprouted some of the truest bands lyrically, the straightest bands ethically, and the most forward thinking bands musically. since the early 80’s, the Washington D.C. hard core/punk scene has been the birthplace of many of the truly great underground/DIY bands of my generation: Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, Youth Brigade, Government Issue, Fire Party, The Nation Of Ulysses, Jawbox, Q And Not U, Circus Lupus, and of course, Fugazi (just to name a few…).

Teen Idles is one of the first bands to break the DC scene wide open. this band is why Dischord Records started. this band is why it all came together. and they were pretty impressive. shannon’s framed cover of Minor Threat’s s/t record on the wall in her kitchen kick started my DC review on my iPod. it’s pretty awesome to try to soak up an entire scene via the magic of digital music. looking back, the Teen Idles were raw and powerful, sloppy and trite. but they were just what the youth of DC needed. art needs a catalyst sometimes. in the early 80’s, leaders like Reagan provided that riff. sigh. the kids on the streets today just aren’t that interested in making a difference. that’s a tough truth to swallow…

the photography:
i am currently hanging out in my parents dining room amidst the tap-tap-tapping of my wife on my mother’s old white iMac laptop. it’s a fitting scene for a snowy and flipping freezing afternoon in February. the high for today? looking at a whopping 8 degrees above zero. oh crap. days like this prove that mittens are not just for second graders.

we are in vermont to celebrate my sister-in-law’s graduation from college. graduation from college is a special occasion that i have celebrated with friends and family at least a dozen times (only once for myself) and i am always amazed by the jubilation, awe, and just plain “scared shitless” emotions that make the entire day so energized and full of smiles. now if only you could repeat this feeling of accomplishment later on in your life when you could use a little pick-me-up to get you through the doldrums (also known as your “20’s”). i think half the reason so many people go to graduate school is to feel that sense of accomplishment again. i know that if i could celebrate my college graduation over and over and over, i would. even if i had to listen to “i’ve got you babe” every morning for the rest of my life.

as an 18 year old entering the doors of academia, i distinctly remember that college was going to prepare me for the business world that lay ahead of me as an adult. i honestly thought that college was going to prepare me for a career path or at the very least, give me the smallest inkling of what i wanted to do. in fact, college did not do this. in fact, college prepared me with the social tools to be able to STOMACH the business world (not how to navigate it). for these social preparations, i am extremely grateful for my experiences during my four years of school. i just wish that during my senior year one of my professors had taken me aside and reassured me that while i would be trying to navigate this vast and very very serious business world that i would be shipwrecked and marooned at least four times.

for if i had known this, i would not have felt so down upon myself when i was working 50 hours a week and feeling so very alone and unhappy with where i was headed. professional loneliness (for a lack of a better term) is never pointed out as a possibility within the halls of academia. it’s not even mentioned. i think it should be mandatory and embraced. when i left the academic bubble, all i got was a “here’s the alumni network” and a peppy “enjoy your first job!”. strong words to make you feel important and dearly missed but these words hold little water when you resumé lists “Bakery Delivery Driver – six months”, “Freelance newspaper advertisement designer – 2 months”, and (my personal favorite) “Band photographer – 1 band”.

oh well… it’s not planting the flag on the top of the mountain that defines us… it’s the climb. right? right?

photos are with the 5DMKII and my EF 24-105mm f/4.0L USM. i want to say it one more time but it was silly cold outside… 8 degrees yo. sunny, but c’mon. 8 degrees!!!

the music:
whenever i get to hang out at my parents house, people are always chatting. the conversation topics range dynamically from the government (the vermont state secessionist movement is currently high on the list), artists (local photographers are my fave), books (my mom is the head of the board of trustees at the local public library), and the obligatory where-are-they-now-Champlain-Valley-Union-High-School-class-of-1996 check-in. it’s always fun to chew the fat and music is also always on the tip of my father’s tongue when the conversation turns boring. the CD players in the living room and in the cars are always loaded with something fun and exciting. my father’s newest kick? punk rock music with an irish twist. you heard it here first.

edd’s current favorite records:

The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash

Flogging Molly – Swagger

The Dropkick Murphy’s – Blackout

what the what? that’s right… my dad is listening to the Murphy’s. amazing. the man who introduced me to Tom Waits has come full circle and instead of scatting off the quick witted “Step Right Up” he serenades the bar world of broads with “Kiss Me I’m Shit Faced”.

i couldn’t be prouder. but right now i’m kicking back and listening to the original (which i was totally unaware of BTW) Respect by Otis. my friend poor-white-trashley would be proud. hit it otis. hit it.

the photography:
you know what’s fun? taking an outsider’s stance while standing in an insider’s job. confused? you should be. i’ll lay it out for you:

a) i work in the automotive industry as a photojournalist

b) i’m not an enthusiast (or at least i wasn’t before i started this job) nor am i an automotive blogger

c) i’m not a reporter

d) and i’m not easily swayed (or impressed for that matter) by those who are

when i’m working the show floor, i’m simply a photographer with a job to do and a deadline to meet. thank you so much for understanding my frustration when you step in front of me to make sure you take a camera phone photo of your buddy for facebook. please be polite and get out of my way.

this (almost) oblivious mind-set allows me to work at an auto show as efficiently and as objectively as humanly possible. auto shows are basically cavernous rooms filled with PR suits, reflectively clean metalic cars, million dollar plastic replicas, and thousands of people wanting to know what this that and the other thing are all about. there are freelancers, writers, photographers, and videographers everywhere, snapping pictures, taking video, tweeting, and producing everything from newspaper columns to the occasional online web-isode video about transmission fluid. it’s an interesting group of people to say the least.

by staying in an almost oblivious state of mind, i find that i don’t easily wrap myself up in the notorious game of cat and mouse that i have dubbed, shiny objects (shiny objects is a marketing ploy which causes the buyer or viewer to stare at a new shiny object and because said new shiny object is so amazingly shiny and new, the buyer/viewer’s head is cleared of any thoughts whatsoever. ending scenario? buyer/viewer’s head has clouded over and any sense of how said shiny object fits into the “big picture” is lost; it’s a distraction method employed by many and understood by few).

one of the few historic sights (and the grandest of shiny objects) from the auto show circuit that always draws my attention above the sea of noise, news, lights, and commotion are the gorgeous (and highly-suspect) auto show models. dressed to the nines and paid to stand next to a large hunk of steel and plastic, these models eek out a living looking pretty, standing at attention, and smiling like they don’t know how to frown. unlike their runway cousins, the auto show model must not only fit the part (visually matching the brand) but they must also stand next to their respective vehicle and touch it occasionaly, thus drawing needed attention to whatever is being displayed. it sounds silly, but picture bob barker repeatedly announcing “A new Car!!!” over and over. car show models are a lot like that. imagine this job description:

seeking size 0-3 female, at least 5′9″
must be able to stand under hot lights with very little clothing for 5 hours straight
must be able to smile entire four hours
must be able to stand smell of armor all
must be able to stand up to sleezy reporters and photographers who want to possibly smooch you or buy you drink
must be able to stomach new chrysler lineup
must be able to do all this in 4″ heels

there are more than a few deal breakers in there. jeez…

so anyways, i took some quick pics of the models. my mind always works in funny ways so i tried to create a dichotomy between images of the models being models and hamming it up for the camera, and of models not paying attention to me. i think it works well. the funny thing is, half the time i’m at an auto show, i pay zero attention to the models. zero. except unless they ask me to get them a sandwich (model humor… too soon?!) or possibly a 2,500 calorie protein shake? (way too soon)

photos are with the 5DMKII and the 24-70mm f2.8L and the new 70-200mm f2.8L. i likey. thanks for another smashing year detroit, i actually miss you already. Joe? i’m gonna take you up on that offer to do a DETROIT-IN-24-HOURS-PHOTOGRAPHY-MARATHON. that will be fun.

and just to clarify, i am a little jaded at the process but i love the people i work with and i love what i do for a living. some of the best days of my year are spent walking around detroit during the auto show. i really dig it.

the music:
i enjoyed spending much of my downtime today reading hilarious braid facts posted by their bass player Tod Bell over his twitter feed. this stroll down memory lane obviously led to me playing lots and lots of braid over the headphones. i could listen to them forever. i’m a nerd, a geek, a husband, a former jock, a soon to be father, a photographer, and a braid fan. but not in that order.

the photography:
i’ve been MIA for a bit. sorry about that. the holidays are busy with family and really busy with work. my bad. but i’m posting now, right?

i spend at least one week in detroit every year as i cover the north american international auto show as an automotive photojournalist from the floors of cobo hall. it’s always a wicked exciting time to be around for the major car releases from the big three american automotive giants with all of the pomp and circumstance that comes with the dance party that is the press days. sigh. january in detroit? sigh.

every time i enter the detroit city limits, all i want to do is spend my time photographing the world outside of the hall walls, the desolate, decrepit, weed-infested streets, and burned out house shells that make up the greater detroit metropolitan region. this year i took the plunge and i snuck out of the hotel and i explored. it was amazing. on that warm/cold/warm morning, i took the time to photograph the GMC Safari van that is jacked up with at least an 18″ lift kit complete with gigantic mudding tires affixed to it’s tiny axels making it look like the ultimate redneck salute to the A-Team. too bad it’s painted tan (or should i say faded tan). finally. i have been eyeing that bad-boy for three years.

one of the glimmering pillars of detroit’s losing battle with it’s own humanity is the Michigan Central Depot, located on Michigan Avenue in detroit, just down the street from the former Tiger Stadium. this building has been empty since Amtrak left in 1988 which means that the 17 story structure (slightly guessing since the first floor atrium has 76′ tall ceiling) has been empty for more that 22 years. the condition of the building is a national and architectural travesty that many photographers have taken a stab at capturing. so i gave it a my best shot with the time i was alloted and i feel quite good about the results. i will, mark my words, one day return and climb inside this building and i will document the horror that lies within. one day.

another stop on my way out of detroit is this great little diner/hamburger joint. two of us ate 2 eggs over easy, hashbrowns, toast, and bacon. we paid $7.47. crazy. the man behind the counter shredded the potatoes for the hashbrowns while we sat and waited. amazing.

it was a gorgeous couple of days but much of my time was spent in a conventional hall and then in a casino. don’t ask. i didn’t bet a cent. but the time i did get out and take some photographs, the light was perfect, the sky was filled with voluptuous high clouds, and the temperature was perfect while sitting right around 33 degrees. i couldn’t have asked for a better 1.5 hours. next time? i’m gonna take a couple of days and document the city of detroit as it should be documented. it’s a beautiful place. truly beautiful.

the music:
i first heard the band doves when i was working in a crappy design job laying out old-people-group-tour catalogs for an old-people-group-tour company located in boston. boring, mind-numbing, and anti-inspirational were the terms we threw around that office like oyster crackers onto a bowl campbell’s clam chowdah. an aging hipster coworker (in his 40’s who wore chucks and took care of his 15 year old daughter on the weekends) spent much of his time pulling me aside and chatting about bands in hopes of passing the rock’n'roll torch to an up-and-coming music junkie such as myself. it worked. his first lesson was to never forget the importance of punk music no matter how trite and watered down it becomes and his second was to always listen to captain beefheart. i soaked up a lot of information during my 6 month freelance stint on the third floor of that brick building just south of the five points channel. a lot.

one of the records that was passed down to me during that educational period was the doves, lost souls, the first full length from these three chaps from manchester. it’s quite a fantastic record from start to finish with the ebb and flow of songs that peaks with the epic “the cedar room” which needs the calming cool down of “the house” to bring the record back to earth. if you want to know where coldplay get much of their sound from i can tell you that it’s not all radiohead ripoffs. doves mix floating chords and keyboards with a smooth rhythm section and echoed staccato guitars to make you feel right at home in your chair with your headphones on. i went so far with my love of doves to track them down during their first couple of tours to the states. the opening band for their first tour? a little group called the strokes. the second tour? a little group called my morning jacket. not too shabby kids. not too shabby.

the photography:
that’s right. i love horses. they are the most majestic, non-urban, non-exotic, animal that i can think of. yet, for some reason, right in the middle of the Old Town neighborhood on the northside of chicago, there is a field (empty lot) that is a fenced in pen for a group of horses. why do i know this? because it is visible from the train (brown and purple lines for those at home keeping score) just south of the Sedgewick stop looking west.

glorious prancing horses. yup. amazing. on this fine day, there were three light colored specimens and one eerily ‘black-as-night but with red highlights’ specimen trotting around the lot. every time i got close to the fence with my camera, one of the horses would inevitably walk up to me as if to say ‘this is the part of the story where you give me a carrot or some hay and i’ll be cool with your presence’. it was pretty awesome.

the back story is that my wife and i have been enamored with these gigantic creatures since we started riding the train together to go to work about three years ago. a good day in my book is when i get to see the ‘guys’ (as they have come to be regarded) on my way to work and on my way home. i even go so far as to make sure i am sitting on the proper side of the train for a good viewing. oh yeah. i’m obsessed.

photos are with the 28mm and if you know your focal lengths, you will realize that 28mm is pretty wide so you can really get a sense of how close i was on some of these frames. good times. they are beautiful creatures and they scare the crap out of me when i get too close. it’s humbling to be so close to such a powerful animal in the (cough, literary license) wild.

the music:
i have this reoccurring habit (um, doesn’t the definition of habit mean reoccurring?) of leaving my ipod at home. this sucks when i have gobs of photos to edit and nothing to listen to whilst doing so. pandora radio is an ok distraction but it’s biggest fault lies within the fact that after about 45 mins, the songs start to repeat themselves. thank god i brought the ipod today.

Operation Ivy were a raucous nor-cal punk outfit featuring a very young (and extra snarly) Tim Armstrong (of Rancid fame) that were full of the punk ethos as much as jamaican rock steady. their mix of punk, ska, and anti-establishment sounds a lot like a cheap The Clash rip-offs but Op Ivy meant much much more to the music community in the late 80’s. Op Ivy’s real claim to fame (at least in the music press) was that they solidified the Berkley punk sound that led us directly to bands like Green Day and Sublime. as Op Ivy played their last show in 1989, the openers were a small little punk trio that had just changed their name to Green Day. oh well, someone had to do it. if kids in the 2000’s are picking up Op Ivy records because Billie Joe Armstrong told them to, so be it. these guys deserve their due. legacies aside, take warning is a stripped down ska/punk jam filled with advice, upstroke guitars, and a damn funky bass line. it stands the test of time for sure. go out and find the Energy LP. it’s as awesome as much as it’s cliche and trite. but hey, they did it really well.

the photography:
another day, another Flickr meet-up. sigh. i will never get tired of meeting and chatting with this interesting group filled with interesting people, who are all interested in the same sorta stuff i am. there is nothing better for the soul than meeting like minded people and eating crepes. hallelujah!

this is my second time having lunch with this crew and it’s really been fun getting to know people and their work. sometimes when i get some free time while i’m sitting at the computer, i’ll peruse various pages of their photography and catch up with what the peeps have been up and who’s talking to who and who’s photographing who. it’s a great visual representation of what these photographers are doing and what they are finding artistically interesting.

i could look at photos all day long. the act of photo browsing is pretty wonderful and if i didn’t spend so much time editing my own photos, i would spend all day flipping through photos. here are 5 (.5) reasons why i find looking through photographs (specifically) on Flickr so cathartic and ediucational:

1. i really enjoy seeing what other people are doing with their cameras and their free time. these particular searches sometimes end in fits of jealousy but at the very least, looking through photos of someplace i want to be invigorates me and gets me out the door with my camera strapped to my shoulder and a granola bar in my pocket.

2. i get to see where my fellow contemporary photographers (professional and amateur alike) in the city of chicago are finding the gritty gritty. i like the gritty gritty and so do a lot of the people i follow on Flickr. urban decay is gorgeous. say that five times fast… gritty gritty… it just sounds dirty. now picture tom waits saying it… awesome.

3. i love to see how different photographers take portraits. from the kid on the street shooting strangers with his new DSLR to the woman who photographs herself and her husband on the train with a point a shoot, portraits come in all shapes and sizes, and colors. i love checking out what people will do while having their picture taken. i also love where people decide to take portraits. i take notes on the stuff i like about other people’s portraits and i try to remember to reproduce certain bits and pieces when i create my own work.

4. it’ always fun to see how people set out to do photography projects. i personally have spent almost a year working on my own 50 portraits project. best stuff on Flickr? self-portrait projects. especially the 365 self-portraits (1 a day for a year). there is nothing better than looking through hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of photos of the same person to see how the photographer (and the subject) changes it up (to beat the monotony) or keeps the shot the same especially when said person is on their 8th year of taking one photo of themselves every day (that doesn’t actually happen but you get the idea). so much interesting work being done here… lots of great ideas and plenty of bad ideas too. it’s a virtual how-to and how-not-to in one set.

5. and finally, i just love reading people’s comments and thoughts about photographs. sure, it’s easy to leave the essential “Great shot!” or “Sweet!” or “First!” but i love it when people start to converse in photographic terms with meaning and insight. it’s great feedback not only for the photographer at hand but it’s also great for readers to converse in the conversation as well. fun (and sometimes humiliating but mostly fun!).

Special Reason (or reason #5.5). every now and then you get to see something truly exceptional, emotionally driving, and knock your socks off fantastic. then you copy down everything you like about the photograph and you try to grow out of your photographer’s shell and make your next female model drop the top of her dress just a little lower, you ask your next male model to make that dark sinister face a little more believable and disgusting, and you push your boundaries of comfort as a photographer to make yourself and your art, that much more productive. sigh…

if you look closely, you’ll notice the photos are with the new Canon 5D MKII body and my same old 28mm. a rather splendid combo if you ask me…

the music:
this record has been listed on almost everyone’s “end of the century” essential-to-own record list which, to be completely honest, has become a boring way to wave your i’m-just-as-meaningful-to-america-as-lester-bangs-male-phallus about to see who has the biggest one (the winner of that contest = no one, you all lose). this particular white stripes record deserves all the credit it receives, don’t get me wrong as i tend to rant when prodded with a stick, i’m just upset that making a definitive list is the only way to prance about and posture your “manhood” in the music press. that’s right, i’m looking at you pitchforkmedia… lame.

the white stripes have always been known to take traditional blues and push the boundaries. ball and a biscuit is their ode to the old timers and the forefathers. it’s also jack whites homage to the screaming distortion pedal and tube amplification. in the beginning, this song just fingerpicks midlevel hum hum and reverb that builds to a squeeling, pedal stomping, guitar olympics that could just as easily define white’s guitar playing style if only we could imbed MP3 files into the dictionary. the fact that meg actually keeps time (i mean really truly actually keeps a standard 4/4 beat) throughout the entire song is not lost on me. the lyrics are old world, the guitar sounds are all jack white, and the drums are meg’s best slowed-pace-bohnam bass drum and snare. i love this song. love it.

the photography:
i’m still sorting through all of the photographs i took during the thanksgiving holiday. the sad thing is that it’s literally almost christmas. whoops… i’m a bit of a slowpoke sometimes but hey, i got a ton of stuff on my plate. the detroit auto show is in january, the chicago auto show is in february, the new baby arrives in march, and i’m still shooting about 3 cars a week at work. wowsers. busy.

after spending our first thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family down in rhode island, my wife, my parents, and i hopped in the car and drove to my wife’s cabin in the north east kingdom area of vermont (it’s where canada, vermont, maine, and new hampshire meet… maine is technically 60 miles to the east, you can thank my father for the edit). it’s one of the more remote parts of the state, gorgeous, and virtually untouched for a long time. the accents are so thick on the natives that most vermonters don’t even understand what people are talking about. its a special place.

the funny thing about our trip up to the cabin is that thanksgiving falls right in the heart of deer hunting season. when we decided to go for a walk, we needed to wear as much “i’m-not-a-deer-orange” as we could pile on. we actually came prepared with bright colored jackets of our own as my mom always packs extra bright clothes in the back of the car during hunting season. i can’t say that people in chicago are worried about being mistaken for deer during the fall but who knows.

the cabin is where my wife and i got married. it’s a special place that holds a lot of meaning to not only her family (it’s been a place of refuge for 40 plus years) but also to me and my family. photos are from the woods surrounding the cabin and the players are cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, and parents. it helped that it was brisk and sunny. perfect for walking with the 5D and my trusty 28mm. vermont’s pretty pretty. it’s no joke.

dinner that night was stupendous. back to back thanksgivings is pretty awesome. did i mention that this is my 100th post? that’s right. check out the archives. i got a lot of stuff to look through.

the music:
out of the handful of indie bands to garner national attention in the last 10 years, the arcade fire have backed up their hype by putting on some of the best live shows and have released two of the century’s best studio records. this was the first single off of the second record and it is one of the catchiest tunes around. i’m a sucker for some mandolin. i saw the arcade fire for the first time back in the day at Merge Fest 15 (Merge Fest XX was this year) when they played a free show opening up for lou barlow (of sebadoh and dinosaur jr. fame). i’m pretty sure no one remembers his set…

the show was at the “local 506″, a small club on the main drag in chapel hill, north carolina that doesn’t fit a lot of people. needless to say, it was the most packed show i have ever been a part of. i like it when artists step up and live up to the hype that others put upon them. i hate being disappointed. pitchfork disappoints me a lot. thank god someone else broke these guys. it was a great time to live in the triangle area (raleigh, durham, chapel hill, located in *gasp* a triangle). there was a lot going on five years ago…

the photography:
as my family gets used to the constant click-click-clicking noises that surround me like dust to pigpen, their guard is dropped (like galileo dropped the orange? beastie boys reference? check). i knew this day would happen. i just knew it. sometime during the first 2 hours of the thanksgiving family get-together in providence, rhode island, my family forgot all about the fact that i was wondering around with a camera. moments like this have happened sporadically with individuals but never with the entire family. it was like i was a ghost. perfect.

there was one little hole to this theory. my ghost like qualities were only applied to those over the age of 20. my twin nephews, ages 3 and 3 respectively (cause they’re twins, duh), could see and hear me the entire time. even if i was real quiet and took my shoes off to lower my chance of audible and visual distractions, they would always pop up and look right into the lens. “unkie, e, you’re taking a picture!”. damn you little brilliant dudes, damn you!!! i am always so excited to see my family. this was no exception.

as the pictures DO NOT prove, we are a happy bunch, jovial and cute. i just like the quiet moments, long pensive looks, and very little screaming. you’d be amazed how much screaming 3 year olds do… they can do no wrong in my eyes though. no wrong.

photos are with the 28mm and for some reason, i took lots of pics of my grandfather. he is a wonderful man indeed. as a fifth generation farmer he has put his time in. this summer, along with my beautiful grandmother, we will all be celebrating their 65 wedding anniversary. a great party will commence. getting four generations under one roof is special. i love my family very much and i can’t wait until march when i can add my own little one to the fray! that makes me smile widely…

Pro tip: ISO rises slightly as the light gets dimmer.

the music:
my love of mission of burma grows with each passing record. they make me smile so big and so wide. support the arts, support local musicians, support your local emperor (that’s right, that’s a Blues Traveler reference, you’ll never see one again… i promise). these guys keep getting better with age. rock and roll, punk, and art house music would not be the same without these bostonians. do yourself a favor. like them.

the photography:
i have always wanted to make a t-shirt and bumper sticker campaign featuring the phrase, “Real Vermonters don’t vacation in Jersey” complete with some huge Cooper font lettering scheme (think old iron on letters) and with some line art of the two states fighting. now, if you didn’t grow up in or attend college in the north east, you probably won’t get the reference. let me lay it out for you…

now we all like to pick fun at the expense of the fine state of new jersey. everyone does it. chemical plants, swamplands, the jersey shore, even the Boss is fair game. but in it’s defense, north eastern new jersey, near the Penn border, is absolutely stunning. the terrain is all rolling mountains, cow pastures, and beautiful river valleys. anywho, that specific region does not save the rest of the state.

as a child growing up in vermont, sometime around late august, the influx of new york and new jersey license plates started to roll into town in search of some late summer delights such as leaf peeping (a legitimate money maker in vermont), maple syrup purchasing, ski-lodge renting, and golfing. these cars would then stay through the winter only to disappear sometime around february. now granted, these people are spending money and keeping the economy running long after the cheese and milk industry have run out of ideas but most vermonters, and i mean most vermonters, would let you know that they cringe when they see those license plates.

it comes down to this: vermonters love peace and quite. that’s the main reason why families settle there. they enjoy the outdoors, the mountains, the lakes, the farms, the wildlife, the skiing, and winter driving. there is a reason it is illegal to put up billboards in vermont and there is a reason it is the only state without a McDonalds in the capitol city. what most vermonters can’t stand is brash, loud, obnoxious, demanding, and downright contentious crowds from the garden state who own time shares in Killington and thus think that they own everything in vermont. undoubtedly, these same people are probably wearing some sort of gaudy fuschia ski parka complete with gold lamé patches and a fake fur collar so they are easy to spot. just don’t mistake them for canadians. canadians wear the full fuschia snow suits to cover up their denim on denim ensembles, not just the jackets (i kid…).

people who grew up in upstate new york (and yes that means north of albany as more than 2/3’s of the fine state of new york is located north of albany!!!) feel my pain. so when i go home, i tend to judge people by their license plates. it makes me feel better. i guess every state has at least one mortal enemy… unfortunately, most of new england despises new jersey. and let’s be honest, the hippies in vermont would never let hypodermic needles and dirty diapers wash up on their shores.

photos are from thanksgiving weekend from my parents backyard in charlotte, vermont. for some perspective, the house is located an hour and a half, door to door, from Montreal, Canada. on that fine mid-morning it was raining and brown and a bit on the cold side. 28mm lens again. i just can’t quit you. to be in the state of vermont is relaxing. i take deep breathes when i go home. i love it and i miss it from time to time. but this mid-west city is where i need to be. mid-west for life? possibly… vermonter at heart? most definitely.

the music:
with pictures of vermont running through my head, i figured i would tap into the deep and vast musical cd’s from said fair state that reside on my ipod. for a small area with a small population, some really good art is made in burlington vermont. back in 1997, one of the best bands in chittenden county was the shoe-gazing noise makers Starlight Conspiracy. the band was lead by the guitar genius of Denny Donovan and highlighted by the softest/sweetest female vocals this side of Kim Deal. this record is a diamond in the rough that was the mid-90’s wasteland of crappy grunge rip-offs and bad rap rock. Starlight’s music fits more with 1991 britain and My Bloody Valentine or on the mean streets of washington d.c and Fugazi than it does in the hippie mountains of phish.

Starlight Conspiracy’s entire catalog can be downloaded here: Starlight MP3’s

on a side note: god bless marshall amplification.

the photography:
so when you’re stuck in downtown los angeles without a car, there are very few places for you to roam especially if you don’t have enough time to ride the bus or take a cab anywhere. what’s a shutterbug to do? well, i did what i thought was right. like dell, i wandered.

after about five blocks i found myself smack dab in the middle of “old theater heaven” also known as historic downtown los angeles. HDLA instantly reminded me of the less populated sections of hong kong, much of the the lower east side of new york circa 1995 BG*, the old irving park neighborhood in chicago, and a few other busy market streets in various cities across the world. city block after city block was filled with turn of the century architecture that has fallen into disrepair and is inhabited by square foot after square foot of little shops and eateries. and every block has at least one broken down theater that, before the second war, was the heart of the street with gigantic marquees and flashing lights that used to call out who, what, and when. pretty awesome.

after checking out the of the standard, i left my bags with the front desk so all i had on my person was my wallet, my phone, and my camera with the 28mm. the 5D body with a prime 28mm lens on it is pretty sneaky. the rig is big but not big enough to be un-hideable. that’s not even a word but you know what i mean. the entire camera and lens can be hidden quickly if you feel like you’ve possibly taken a photo that will get you into legal trouble or if you feel like it might be time to leave before you get beat-up. it’s tough to walk around a foreign city in 65 degree sunshine when my body is used to 35 degree slush and rain. but i managed, hoodie and all.

*you know, (B)efore (G)iuliani

the music:
jimmy fallon (this is the last time i’ll mention his name in print) reunited the band jawbox to play live on his stage last night for his ill-conceived yet amazingly-talented-musical-guest-lineup tv show. jawbox are re-releasing remastered copies of their early records from desoto records. what can i say about jawbox that i a)haven’t already said b)someone with a better knowledge of music hasn’t already said c)hasn’t been tattooed on the arms of many a post-rocker? if you are looking to get into heavy indie music and haven’t already?

look no further as jawbox is the real deal. bred from the heart of the hallowed dischord label, these washingtonians have compiled some of the best records recorded in the 90’s. the irony is that it takes the jimmy fallon show to get them out into the public eye after not playing live since 1997. j robbins is a genius. if you don’t agree, you’ve never heard the records he’s produced. it’s phenomenal. yum yum yum jawbox.

here are the links to the videos from last night’s fallon performances. 3 songs. hot shit indeed and 12 years of rust kicked off in one note:

Jawbox – Savory

Jawbox – 68

Jawbox – ff=66

the photography:
i like boutique hotels. i have stayed in a number of them through the years. the best being a japanese boutique hotel that my wife and i stayed in while vacationing in Beijing a few years ago. what i like about boutique hotels is that they match form and function to create class and style. usually boutique hotel means classy designer furniture coupled with hip outfits, cool bars, and everything matches and looks like it came out of the pages of the magazine Dwell. unfortunately, the standard hotel in downtown los angeles is all about the snark. and i say “snark” with the curled-est of lips. the LA standard is probably just like all the other standard hotels across the globe (they have many locations) but since it’s the only location i’ve stayed at (three years in a row), it’s the only one i can comment on. let’s start with snark, shall we?

first off… no hotel in it’s right mind should have valet’s who wear $200 jeans, have $150 haircuts, and who all wear ray-bans. it just shouldn’t happen. second: every hotel room in the world should have more than one trash can and if you are going to have just one, make sure it lives in the bathroom. no one likes to carry their used q-tips to the living room. the standard in LA covers it’s room and bed riser in carpeting only to add one cool chair, a mattress on said carpeted riser/floor, a plexiglass window that looks into the bathroom from the bedroom, and the whole shooting match gets tied together with some line drawing wall paper that feels too “Logan’s Run” to be anywhere near cool.

what the standard lacks in usability, it makes up for in package design. everything from the sticker on the toilet paper to the box of condoms, to the fire extinguisher signage, breaths “70’s key bowl party decadence” meets “90’s hipster snark with ironic mustaches”. if the standard didn’t have a world class roof deck bar, i don’t think i would ever set foot in it again. as a place to visit? it’s awesome. as a place to lay your head for four days, it sucks. check it for yourself in the pics above. i tried to connect the dots with all of the standard’s glory which include a couple of photos from the roof, a shot of the random organ in the lobby, all of their cool design signage, to the free pool table, and the weird sparse rooms. what a headache. but an enjoyable headache to boot.

don’t get me wrong, the hotel is eye candy as are all of the components that make it up. but the rooms are pretty dreadful as far as comfort and quality. roof deck bar with pool? awesome. hotel room without a coffee maker and kleenex? bogus.

ALSO: worst WiFi ever. 15 minutes to send a 1MB email. FAIL!!!!

the music:
war paint is a random band from LA that we (a couple of coworkers and i) ran into on the roof deck bar at the standard. about 3 minutes into their set, i finally realized that there was an actual live band playing in the corner and not that the DJ was ripping some serious grooves. i was slack jawed and happy to see that an LA band was ripping through some psych groove rock and we hadn’t paid a dollar to see it happen before our eyes. so good. so cool. and it turns out that shannyn sossamon was the original drummer. who knew?

the photography:
so this thanksgiving 2009 was much like any of my previous thanksgivings, it was mobbed with nephews, 4 generations of merritts, good food, great company, talk of babies, two different sit down dinners, and 1 happy dog waiting for us at home at the end of all the hub-bub. as i look back on thanksgiving ought-9, i see it as the end of a chapter in my life as it was the last thanksgiving for both my wife and i as a couple. the 2010 thanksgiving will mark our first as a trio. as baby merritt’s due date gets closer there will be lots of chapters closing and new ones starting. it feels absolutely wonderful. lots of “firsts” on the horizon, lots of ‘em.

but more about this years thanksgiving in a later post!

PHOTO WALKING WITH A FRIEND: after traveling through 4 states already in 2 days, we finally arrived home at my parents house for 72 hours of some much needed r and r. i decided to take the opportunity to sneak out on a photo jaunt with an old friend who just happens to be a great street photographer whether he is in his hometown of burlington or roaming and clicking the streets of his former hood, san francisco. trevor is known on the interwebs as @roamandclick on the twitter and his personal photo website Roam and Click is quite fantastic. trevor also is a flickr-ite and can be found here under the moniker, [ bones ] : Flickr

i reconnected with trevor via facebook after 10 or so years of not seeing each other. he was heading into chicago and wondered if i would be up for a drink. since it was st. patrick’s day, i figured, what the hell. this was four years ago and we have kept in touch ever since. we’ve had our ups and downs as individuals but the connection trevor and i share is focused (pun intended) primarily on our love of two things: photography and urban decay. AND we both grew up in the same small town with the same group of 100 kids and we’ve both since travelled the world and seen the sights. last saturday we decided to tackle photos and urban decay. it was a blast. for the record, trevor is a Nikon guy. not that there’s anything wrong with that…

the photos are from just off of flynn avenue, in burlington, vermont. locals should know this area as the first magic hat brewery was located just around the corner. as usual, the lens is the trusted 28mm f1.8 and we hit the train tracks at the perfect golden hour of dusk. it was breezy and cool but not yet winter. you could smell the wood stoves in the air but you didn’t need a scarf. perfect weather for some photo walking with old friends. salt sheds, railroads, trucks, and dirty old buildings were provided by the city of burlington and it’s inhabitants. sigh.

the music:
lowell is a guy i grew up with who is making the scene in new england as what northern country twang means. he’s a heart-on-sleeve songwriter who delivers his brand of northcountry alt rock with a voice of gold and a cracking back up band containing some of burlington’s finest musicians. it’s a recipe made in “Wilco” fan heaven. go and check them out if you can and if they come to the midwest, you’ll see me in the front row.

THREE SIDE NOTES: i once worked for lowell’s dad as a house painter, lowell and i played high school lacrosse together, and his punk band in high school once opened for my ska band in (redundantly) high school. fact.

the photography:
i met a bunch of fantastic people yesterday at a flickr meet-up at coco’s southern style soul food. it’s quite a place and with the right people, it can quite easily be overrun. amazing.

it also helps when you are all holding cameras and gabbing about where you are, where you were photographing on your new posts, what your screen name is, and how meeting people IRW (interwebs slang for “In the Real World”) makes complete sense most of the time and that interwebbers (twitter folk, flickr heads, and facebook friends) tend to be a pretty cool bunch. this chicago flickr crew is no exception. with the newest in new social technologies and media outlets being created and implemented all over the net, like minded people are finding it easier and easier to congregate in a southern fried kitchen on the 400 S block of Clark with a bunch of sort-of strangers to talk about camera gear, photos we liked, why fried lobster might be overrated, and to explain what we all do to make money to spend on camera gear.

the social media outlets have also given us (as artists) a great place to connect and network. instead of sitting through industry nights at the local Ritz Camera where you would sit through an amateur lecture on how to light and photograph your great aunt Bertha’s WWII bed pan so it can be sold on eBay, you get to sit down and enjoy a lunch of fried goodies and chat with people like they are human beings, not just consumers. it’s pretty sweet. thanks to the select few who put the group together and to all of those who showed and to those i didn’t get to talk with, we will find time to do so at the next crossroads.

it’s nice to meet such a talented group of people without egos. cheers.

here are a list of links, from their flickr handles, to the gathering via different points of view. a good time was had by all:
Thee Erin – Phule – Joem500 – Chicago Man – SFMoe – Chapendra – MerlinsMan

the music:
morphine defined underground music to me when i was in high school. how could such a great band with such an interesting musical lineup (trio of two string slide bass, baritone sax, drums) who made such incredibly accessible music never make the big time? they did everything right. they even scored a hip and well received underground piece of cinema (their record, Cure For Pain was used as the back drop to the disturbingly weird coming-of-age-inside-a-disintegrating-marriage-incestual-broken-leg-mowing-the-lawn-flick, Spanking the Monkey). as far as the business was concerned, wasn’t there just only one direction to go from there? well, the ideal path is to sign a record deal, become major rock stars, make hit records, make it with groupies, etc. this scenario only plays out if your lead singer and central song writer does NOT die onstage in Italy after signing said recording contract and before the groupies and money. Mark Sandman will be missed dearly in the musical world. the Boston music scene will never quite be the same. go out and buy their records. your money will be well spent.

the photography:
i belong to a collaborative arts gallery located in the ravenswood art corridor on the NW side of Chicago. last year we created an annual holiday art sale to help offset some of the bills associated with running a store front art gallery. this year, as a group, we’re gonna make us some magnets to sell. my 8 designs are located up above. for the most part, they are chicago themed. i wanted to mix humor with chicago with holiday greetings. i may have missed the point on a few but hey, i think they’re gonna be pretty sweet. 4″ x 4″ fridge magnets couldn’t be cooler. expect buttons to be made as well. sweet. as we get closer to the date, i’ll make sure that everyone knows when and where (we might be moving spaces… gasp!).

one of the major partners in my collective is a photographer by the name of Emily Grimes. through the years she’s mastered many things photography including (but most certainly not limited to) Holga film photography, mid-west farm photography, “growing up southern belle” photojournalism (which can NOT be faked), and now, hip hop/rapper/gangsta photography. oh yeah, you read that one right. Emily is a dear friend and a fantastic artist. her new blog is up at Emily Grimes Photography. please go and check it out her various sites, you’ll be really happy you did! gosh darnit, she’s got a book coming out for criminy’s sake? Emily Grimes = the real deal. god bless her for inspiring me by showing me that it’s possible to stretch out of your photographic comfort zone to make some really great art.

on that note, tomorrow is a big day for me. i’m aiming to shoot some glamour styled photos for the 50 Portraits Project. Niki has gladly volunteered her modeling services and we are gonna paint the town red. dresses, bars, buses and a laundromat shoot that i’ve wanted to do since i graduated college. it’s gonna be epic. stay tuned…

the music:
oh my, what’s my problem? emo? even worse, floridian christian emo fronted by none other than Mr. Dashboard Confessional himself, Chris Carraba? oh yeah… umm… this record, it’s a vice. in their defense, this 3:02 minute song might be one of the 10 best pop songs written in the last decade. it’s true. screw what pitchfork says. this song slays.

i’m gonna go and brush my teeth, this song is too sweet.

the photography:
so i’ve got this posse. and in this posse are two dudes who know how to use their cameras. and let’s just say it’s not really my posse. it’s probably more joe’s posse. moe and i are more privates than lieutenants. i digress. there’s three of us and for the first time, we went on some sort of photo/manny’s deli/chinatown/south loop walk about with our cameras. it was rad. here are their flickr sites. check em out. MOE and JOE

the only reason i think it’s joe’s posse is because he’s tougher than moe and i. it’s true. he was air force, moe was navy, and i, well, i played long stick defense on a mediocre public high school lacrosse team which is to say, i’ve really never been to boot camp. so for lack of a better hierarchy, the posse is joe’s. we went out with one thing in mind, to photograph the bejesus out of the south loop. we ended up talking as much as we took photos so i guess we kinda succeeded and kinda failed. either way, it was awesome.

photos here are with the 28mm again (i just can’t quit you!) and most of them were taken down in an abandoned, filled-in basement of a building that had been destroyed. it was probably the coolest urban destruction site i’ve ever found. if i ever wanted to film a post apocalyptic thriller about the decline of rice production and it’s affects on the shanty towns that relied on the it set in downtown chicago, i would film it there.

SIDE NOTE: have you been to manny’s deli before? you should really go if you haven’t and you live in chicago (or if you would like to go when you are visiting chicago, please call me. i am always ready for manny’s). it’s pure corned beef fantastic with a side of love and latkes. mmmmmmmmmmm. visit their website HERE.

the music:
blur’s last studio album (and first without graham coxon) is spotty at best. there is one song from a jeans commercial, one from a car commercial, and then there is this beautifully spun, one minute and two second punk ditty on the atrocities of government and it’s over arching power-hungry secret service/big brother policies and polices. it’s awesomeness bottled into jangled fuzzed out guitars that get to the point right away. crank it. sit back. be blown away.

the photography:
we rolled out to indiana recently for some apple picking, corn mazing, and cider donut chomping. it was awesome. deep in the heart of indiana, just off i65 lies the glory that is Country Line Orchard. it’s completely top notch.

the photos are of adam, nathan, catherine, and stevie. we had a really good day out even though it rained, gusted, and shined all over our autumn parade. to those who think that corn mazes are for kids? think again. if it hadn’t started to rain, we would kicked that maze’s ass sideways. i can tell you that!

28mm lens and a coat to hide the camera under during the rain. awesome. rain and electronics don’t mix too good. to top it all off? we hit up ruben’s, a hot dog joint on the edge of town. let’s just say it was quite divine and leave it at that shall we? i hate giving gastro-intestinal descriptions of both indiana and hot dogs.

the music:
leao kottke might have the worst active professional website i have ever seen. it’s as if a fifth grader from 1992 decided that they would put up a website for their favorite ‘instrumental songwriting deadpan minnesotan guitar player’. it’s atrocious. but at the same time, i can’t tell if leo is laughing at me. he’s got a sense of humor you know… god he’s good at playing the guitar.

when he comes to your town, you should go see him. it’s quite a spectacle. i’ll give you fair warning though: after watching leo kottke play the guitar live and in person you will probably go home and walk out behind your house and behind your garage and proceed to blow up your guitar with m80’s and other assorted fireworks. he’s THIS good.

the photography:

Portrait #34 is Jenni

jenni is set to marry 50 Portraits Project subject # 6 and i couldn’t be happier. i first met jenni when i moved to chicago in early 2005. she’s a peach. we’ve been playing scheduling phone tag for weeks so when i sat both james and jenni down for an engagement photo session, i took the opportunity to snap a bunch of jenni by herself. two birds with one stone? you betcha.

one thing i love about jenni is that she’s out in the world making a difference as a pre-school teacher in a public school out on the far west side of chicago. although i have yet to witness her in action, i can only imagine how her calm and understanding demeanor and patient sincerity coupled with her overall positive outlook rubs off on her impressionable kids. i don’t think i’ve ever seen her unhappy or even flustered for that matter as her face always seems to have a smile on it. she’s as cool as the underside of the pillow.

with this coolness comes jenni’s sense of style and fashion. jenni always looks put together (not manufactured) and she always looks the part. unique but not loud. professional but urban hip. classic yet slightly groundbreaking. it’s tough to pinpoint or define her look but her look is definitely defining. jenni is also an avid ohio-an, she’s a THE Ohio State Football fan, (as you can tell) she’s the proud owner of a Chad Ochocinco Bengals jersey, and she’s never shy about skyline chili as it was a staple two years ago at their super bowl party. i can’t wait for the wedding. it’s gonna be epic… and i couldn’t be happier for ms. jenni!

as you can see james sneaks into a bunch of these (he’s not *overbearing! *i just wanted to say overbearing. i photograph james a lot) as does monte. it’s tough to take photos at home and not have monte sneak in. the first photo is with the 24-70mm as i was in the middle of the engagement photo session when i snapped it. it’s hilariously perfect. the rest are shot with the 28mm f1.8. also also perfect. i have never taken photos of someone during the daytime in my downstairs bathroom. it has tons of natural light. it’ll be used again. thank you 1998-era-rehab-chicago-glass-brick sales!

the music:

the Melodians are legends. Bob Marley may be the face of reggae music but he is not the only jamaican musician. many americans believe in this misnomer. as the Sex Pistols visually encapsulated the punk movement of the late 70’s, they were not the only punk band on the planet. it is the same with the Melodians. and with the (once trio) jamaican duo, you get one of my top 10 favorite singers of all times in tony brevett. it helps that tony’s brother was the bass player in the Skatalites (ska music legends the Skatalites). rocksteady, ska, reggae, and dub would be nothing without the beautiful song writing and harmonies of the melodians. truly truly truly amazing.

people need to listen to more jamaican music. i need to listen to more jamaican music. the bass, the melodies, the drums, the beats… awesome. if you have a couple of minutes, check out the Melodians in the present with this video clip.

the photography:
every 10 months or so, i take a break from photographing whatever it is that i’m currently enamored with (these days it’s mostly people, traveling, and quick road trips outside the house) and bring myself back to photographing old cameras in the macro. i know i know, it sounds weird but i really enjoy taking photographs of cameras. i think my love of the of mid 20th century camera construction (specifically craftsmanship and materials) draws me back to my antique camera collection. it’s a little fetish-y but hey! i’m not hurting anyone. plus it gives me a reason to take the older cameras off the shelf and give them a good dusting.

i created a little seamless studio floor and backdrop with some white printer paper and a manilla folder (for some structural balance) while natural light poured in through the tv room window. it’s amazing how easy and inexpensive it is to create professional studio environment when you don’t feel like going to the studio! the camera i chose to photograph is an old minolta 16mm stainless steel contraption. it’s tiny and i have a couple of them (this one is the larger of the two as i have an 8mm slightly smaller version). i like to think that if i was a spy, i would carry one of these everywhere. this particular camera was purchased at a farmers market/swap meet/flea market in the town square in healdsburg, ca in the spring of 2005. pretty awesome. it’s classy yet fashionable, small but heavy.

to make things even more exciting (i.e. to work on my photo chops), i used a Canon 12 extension tube with my 24mm-70mm to achieve some serious depth of field, some seriously close focusing, and some serious camera shake! when you are this up-close with this tiny amount of depth of field, any little camera movement will cause severe blur. it takes patience. i rarely have any. but when the mood grips me, i like screwing around with my gear. you all should try it. i also set up a funky little tripod made out of a tabletop microphone stand and a foldable strobe/umbrella head. i own a couple of tripods but none that is only 7″ tall. and man, stainless steel looks really good in black and white.

the music:
ted leo. every time i hear this song, i think back to 2003 when i sat on the side of the stage at a Middle East Downstairs (in glorious Cambridge, MASS!!!) ted leo show next to my friend the hahn. after playing this song solo (you better walk around, ’cause no one’s gonna drive you…), ted busted into a solo version of the pogues classic, dirty old town. hahn and i looked at each other and went (simultaneously) “POGUES!”. it was a great show indeed. i love me some ted leo.

the photography:

Portrait #33 is Natalie (and sometimes Teno)

i’m pretty sure that natalie has never had a bad picture taken of her. now i am almost positive that she will argue with the validity of this statement as most modest people should. before i go any further and dump my size 10.5 (size 11 if Adidas) foot into my mouth, i would like to make one defining statement about natalie: she is the most photogenic adult i have ever photographed. i purposefully stated ‘adult‘ because natalie’s son teno has inherited his mother’s photogenic genes.

before i met natalie, i had followed her work online as she writes and edits a great website that caters to a younger generation of kitchen worshipers. at Bake and Destroy, natalie combines here unique take on the world with baking and everything needed in the kitchen. stories, interviews, links to other baking industry peeps, and kitchen centric ideas litter the site with enough content browsing interest to keep you busy for a long time.

at the heart of Bake and Destroy is natalie’s writing. she’s got a BA in journalism from Columbia College and her thoughtful interviews and profiles are aimed at shining a light on chicago’s (and the nation’s) growing interest in everything baking related. the crazy thing is that Bake and Destroy is natalie’s second job. her full time duties? making sure the world uses reusable bags. amazing.

fighting plastic bag abuse, keeping teno and tony in line, and baking the most incredible edibles are all in days work for this fantastic lady. please take the time to visit Bake and Destroy and ReusableBags.com and help put a dent in reducing our plastic bag waste while you put a dent in your local flour and sugar bags. i promise, it’ll be worth your while!

photos were taken with the 28mm f1.8 again. natural sunlight in a kitchen really does make all the difference. thanks to natalie for letting me into her home to meet her wonderful and very photogenic family and also thanks to natalie for sending me home with some cupcakes that just happened to be sprinkled to perfection by the one, the only, mr. teno.

the music:

i saw the JSPE live back in 2001 in boston. i had no idea how rock-n-roll it was to be a heroin addict. amazing. skinny jeans, thrift store tees, and a dirty-patch-covered-falling-apart jean jacket completed the denim tuxedos on all three members (they are called Canadian tuxedos within a hundred mile radius of the northern US border). besides their well documented battle with drugs and the like, the jon spencer blues explosion are possibly one of the loudest bands on the face of the earth. large Orange cabinets and Marshall stacks littered the stage. and they all went to 11 complete with the loudest mic’ing of a drum kit i have ever heard. the bass kick sent shock-waves through your sternum. it was impressive. what? no bass player? who needs one. these guys tore off the roof. this instrumental is the closer to one of their better records. it’s one of those tunes that you hope will never end.

mmmmmm dirty rock and roll, sloppy feedback, dj scratches, heavy bass drums, and keyboards that rip off Dr. Dre… yes please.

the photography:

Portrait #32 is Kendra

kendra is a student. and with being a student comes student problems. i remember this time in my life as if it were yesterday. a healthy balance of school, school work, social activities, and the creation of art as expression (at least when i was enrolled in art classes) ruled my free time. 9 times out of 10? social activities would win the battle. and let’s be honest, it was much more like a slaughter. kendra is really lucky. she has two very important things going for her.

1) kendra feels naked without her camera 2) kendra is fearless.

i only wish these were a part of my limited repertoire when i was in college. not only do they set kendra apart from her classmates but i feel that they both will be really important to her growth as a photographer (as long as they don’t get her into trouble first…).

when i was in my late teens and early twenties, i dreamed of taking photos as hard hitting as the street photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson, as stunning and stoic as the portraits of Yousuf Karsh, or as decadent and perfectly lit as David LaChapelle. and within the realms of academic reason, i probably could have made photos just like them. the only logistics i was lacking were a) money (easily overcome), b) time (actually a cop out as i wasted so much time in college) and most importantly, c) self-confidence and the unwavering sense to just go ahead and try it. in turn, my photography from college is littered with cheesy metaphors, painted plastic guns, cigarette cases, friends trying their best to look edgy, and dozens of out of focus portraits highlighted by cheap dramatic lighting. my photography portfolio from college can be easily summed up: trite subject choices with promising camera technique.

but you know what, that’s totally cool. that’s what college is for right? practicing? learning? developing? i friggin hope so…

kendra, on the other hand, has a leg up. she already has some fantastic and candid portraits of strangers whose faces could tell a thousand stories. it’s endearing, in this digital age, to have no fear in walking up to people on the street just to chat and take photos. she also takes boatloads of self portraits. i mean, BOATLOADS. it doesn’t happen anymore. courage and self-confidence in your work is, ironically, why i started this 50 Portraits Project in the first place. our meeting was destined.

kendra’s lesson for ian: take risks, get uncomfortable, make it happen

ian’s lesson for kendra: practice leads to jobs which leads to more time and money to practice

kendra’s other lesson for ian: wear more lime green

awesome. photos were taken with the fixed 28mm f1.8 and they were taken in and around the south loop of chicago during some of the best natural light i have ever seen.

the music:

if you don’t like the shins, that’s fine. if you don’t like his voice, that’s fine. if you’re worried about where the band is headed since half of them quit, that’s fine. if you think they are over rated, that’s fine. but i don’t think anyone can deny the power of this song, especially when played live. it’s on par with a lot of great rave-ups from the 90’s and 00’s. but as we close the 00’s chapter at the end of this year, a lot of people (probably mostly critics because they really are the only ones who talk about this stuff) will point to the shins as a gigantic driving force in music. especially in regards to lyrics and sonics. this song combines both.

WATCH THE VIDEO.

the photography:
making jam is so awesome. this is the second time we’ve ventured into the realm of doing things “like grandma” and after going two for two (the first being an awesome batch of applesauce in the fall of 2005), i think we might just go ahead and start marketing our jam, canning, and apple sauce services as Merritt’s World Famous. it definitely has a nice ring to it.

with a bun in the oven (well, technically, my wife’s oven), i have been reminiscing more and more about the days of yore when my brother and i were little munchkins and the things my own mother offered up to us as alternatives to playing video games (in all honesty, she did this because we didn’t own a video game console). as kids we did a lot in the kitchen. we were always spending hours making our own play-doh, baking cookies, making brownies, canning jelly, smushing apples into apple sauce, etc. as i approach my own impending fatherhood, these activities seem excitedly and amazingly eminent.

in many ways, i am amazed at how crafty i have become in my young adult years. as a kid, i never thought that years later i would be appreciating the skills my parents taught us (my brother and i) in that kitchen. it just seems natural now that i make lamps for fun and that i can dismantle a computer in no time flat. i think my wife is psyched i never learned how to rebuild a car engine.

the weird part is just after i wrote the last paragraph (^^^^ above ^^^^), i went outside to help fix my friend’s ‘81 Corvette. we installed a new headlamp. it took 10 minutes. that stuff feels pretty good. now if only i can pass it on to the next generation… i think my wife might kill me if the kid starts taking apart the lawnmower with a screwdriver.

Q. is McGuyver out on DVD yet?

A. yes. yes it is.

photos are from south eastern michigan and from our kitchen in chicago. we (my parents and the wifey and i) spent the day picking raspberries and buying blueberries in the hopes of making lots and lots of jam. and we did. the blood of the fruit was on our hands that day and to top it all off, i bought new kicks at the outlets. it was awesome.

the music:
i’m pretty sure that billy corgan is a dick. i have never met him. but i know his story: everyone who has ever played in a band with him has hated him. now, don’t get me wrong, this could be said about a lot of rock’n'rollers but with billy it seems like his genius is what draws people to him and it is his cockiness and controlling nature that push people away. the only interaction i have ever had with the man (other than standing 400 people deep in the audience at one of his shows) is when he sped by me in his lamborghini in the wicker park neighborhood in chicago. he just looked smug. and rich.

but oh my god this song is so good. i mean saturday-morning-driving-to-wisconsin-to-buy-spotted-cow-beer-because-they-don’t-sell-it-in-illinois-super-sweet-awesome-being-pumped-out-of-your-corvette’s-speakers good.

i think corgan gives bald genius’ and fender strats a bad name.

the photography:
keeping with the tradition of posting in spurts, here goes nothing. diptychs are awesome. and quite fun to spell. nuances can be determined only when you have a second ’something’ to prop your first ‘thing’ up against. hence the photographer’s long standing love of diptychs. i think i’ve talked about them before so i’ll just skip over how awesome they are and just show some off.

these photos were taken within a two day period while i was wandering along chicago avenue, daytripping with the mrs. up sheridan road along the north shore in glencoe, walking from my garage to my house in my backyard (Monte!), and after i had used a rather interesting bathroom housed in a grocery store which is then housed in a tall apartment complex in the west loop (notice the changing table in the mens room, gonna use that thing soon enough!).

my need to take two photos every time i click the shutter stems from my work with autos. i photograph cars at such a pace that sometimes i get ahead of myself. when you already know what angle you are going to be working from and when you’re working on memory repetition, sometimes your hands and feet move faster than your shutter. thus, if i take two photos, hopefully one of them won’t be blurry. as i shoot fine art and portraits for myself and this blog, i find that each shutter click becomes a little more refined, a little less hurried, and a lot more thought gets put into what i’m aimed at. so these diptychs, as you look at them, they really do pop with subtle differences. btw… did you know that subtle nuances is redundant? nuances are subtle by definition. huh… cool.

shot with the 28mm again. also, you might notice that i added a fantastic little plugin feature to my WordPress driven blog. it’s the jQuery lazy load plugin and it totally rules. as you scroll down my blog you will notice that the images will load when you need them as opposed to trying to load all at once. did someone say, user experience? shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. thanks to srobbin for the heads up. he’s got his ear to the ground and i appreciate his help!

the music:
oh ted, how you make my life better. i once saw ted leo play a concert in a defunct bar at my college with nothing more than a microphone, his gibson es335, his twinreverb fender amp, a chair, and a reel-to-reel 2″ tape deck with a built-in speaker sitting on the chair. after he introduced himself into the microphone, he pressed play and began to sing and play along with recorded bass and drums. and to the bewilderment of the crowd of less than 50 people, he rocked his ass off. it was truly amazing. i have seen ted leo live more than 25 times and he keeps getting better. when i hear that his music is being listened to by kids of all ages it makes me smile and it reinstates the fact that he is one of the reasons why i love music. ted leo = passionate singer-songwriter guitar hero who loves what he does and he does it for the kids. truly punk (even though he may sound like Thin Lizzy sometimes).

the photography:

Portrait #31 is Joe

joe and i have been running social circles around each other for probably a good 5 years (who knows, it might even be for longer, i’ll have to do a more thorough background check). he is a well known online photographer (the chicagoist, gapers block, being totally sweet in chicago have (re)published his pics), a super duper bike enthusiast around chicago, and thousands of people have (repeatedly) checked out his flickr page and his hilarious take on the world via twitter. yesterday was the first time i actually got to meet joe in person. i have seen him from a distance 3 times before but under very crowded circumstances. he’s almost instantly recognizable. people like that fascinate me. joe fascinates me.

joe and i share the same love of lots of things but most notably, we love kicks. and by kicks i mean what most people would refer to as their “everyday” shoes. and by shoes i mean really sweet footwear. and by really sweet footwear and i mean the types of sneakers that make guys like joe and i go “oh hell yes please” and drop to our knees with envy.

joe also is the type of guy who is never too far away from his camera or his camera phone. the man takes images constantly. and i love every single one. if you spent enough time, you could actually mark out joe’s path on his bike tours around chicago just by putting the pictures together. it’s a fascinating way to tell a story. and i get completely absorbed in joe’s stories. he’s the kind of photographer who takes pictures of what he likes, not what he’s told to like. it’s pretty awesome.

i hope to see a lot more of joe in the future. i will keep my eyes peeled for the biggest wheeled bike in all of chicago. maybe next time i’ll meet him at publican and ya’ll can witness some fantastic gorilla food photography. that would make my year. photos were taken again with the 28mm f1.8 as the 50mm f1.8 has yet to move off of my desk. i might just have to threaten myself to get it to the lens doctor. one of these days… also, you might notice that with a couple of the outdoor photos i kept the ISO set to 1600. that would be an accident. i set the camera at 1600 when we were shooting in joe’s poorly lit concrete bike locker and i failed to return it to the proper ISO setting (for bright sunny days at least) of 100. i hate it when i don’t recognize stuff like that. i absolutely hate it. good thing it was super duper awesome sunny out and none of you would have noticed if i hadn’t told you.

the music:

many of the people who have appeared in the 50 portraits project evoke certain feelings of some shape or form when i have met them or even when i think about them as artists, chef’s, friends, or just peeps. interviewing doug #27 made me hungry for obvious reasons while photographing jay #24 made me want to go out and learn to paint. with joe, all i wanted to do was relive my early years of college radio where i would play anything from the get-up kids, wilco, bad ska, worse hip-hop, and even (gasp from my friends…) steve earle (side note: steve earle rules. get over it!). i imagined myself, all alone in the radio station dj booth with the monitors at full blast, making sure the needle of the receiver wasn’t pinned in the red. so for the drive home, i proceeded to play drums on the steering wheel while i blasted champaign, IL’s hum, really loudly. when i grow up, i’m gonna play through two completely different amplifiers simultaneously while jumping on pedals and destroying my fender strat. uh huh. when i grow up. the best part? when i got back to my in-laws, the bears beat seattle. so, you know… i think it all worked out ok for a sunday that was perfect.

the photography:
it is called a few different things across the world. putt putt, miniature golf, mini golf… but no matter how you slice it; the smaller than real life golf course is one of the greatest places to relax on the planet. 1 father-in-law, 1 wifey, a dozen life-sized paper-maché animals, 1 waterfall, 1 not so close to scale replica of the great wall of china, and 1 gorgeously sunny afternoon in illinois = THE perfect labor day.

here’s a fun perspective/take of a miniature golf course in skokie, illinois. we snuggled our round in between a rather quick threesome of daughter, son, and dad who sat quietly behind us while we putted, and four twentysomethigns who were trying not to curse too loudly when they missed their 4th and 5th shots. it was awesome. did i mention the weather? gorgeous. i also love that mini golf courses have their own little alien-like ecosystems that may or may not survive on rain and sun (they might just grow on dreams and luck). these environments offer up some pretty radical angles. everything was shot using the 28mm 1.8 that was slung around my neck while i putt-putt putted to the head of the leader board after 17 holes (we never did play the first hole).

for a historical look back at golf de mini, check our this link.

the music:
sometimes i just want to hear melodic rock and roll so i can set myself afloat in my office chair. this song does just that. spinning and spinning and spinning i forget just how boring work can be sometimes. thank god for Panodora.com.

the photography:
in many ways, a car is a car is a car. if it gets you from point A to point B without fail, it’s doing it’s job correctly. now, getting from point A to point B is determined by the driver and how the driver would like to or can afford to get from A to B. some cars are made for those with money and some cars are made for those with no money and even more cars are made so that you can look like you’ve got money. exterior designs and drivetrains are copped every day from manufacturer to manufacturer and lawsuits and lawyers help to keep original ideas original. but no matter how you slice it, no matter how many models are on the road in one given model year (347 last year, much less this year) every individual entity known as “the automobile” can be viewed as a work of art. even the craptastic ones.

it’s funny that i ended up where i am today as a professional photographer. a couple of twists of fate, a coffee table book that went no where (which is a total bummer because i really look at the entire experience as some of my best editorial work as a whole and collected), a design career that was just asking for a break (although i still do the occasional album cover so keep those requests coming), this guy who i sorta met once who was looking for an auto photographer, and one fatefully awesome working interview later and, ta-da. so what has the two years brought me? well, for one thing, i know that i can make almost any car look good enough to pass off as awesome when viewed at 350px x 269px @72dpi. say that one five times fast.

other than that… say, the basics of first gear? eh, ummm… i know what torque does but could i describe it to you? probably not without using the word ‘torque’. and i know how a 600 hp engine feels when you stomp on the gas really hard. but do i know what shocks and struts do exactly? not so much. what i HAVE learned is how the light will react off the hood of a car in the shade and at what angle i should park a car at any given moment in the day to get as much soft light to bounce off the dash. it’s the little things, right?

photos are of a car without a single photo of a decipherable badge (i do leave one hint…) or a Monroney sticker (the thing on the window at the dealer, and yes, it has a proper name). i decided to take some shots without the normal car pieces extruding thus ruining the photo, with the exception of the headlights and the taillights which, after a while, feel less and less car like and more and more just plain mechanical. no wheels, no dashboards, no engine, no sounds, no fury, no burning rubber. just metal lines after gooey metal lines… (and some leather and more metal)

the music:
what happens when you mix two crazy multi instrumentalist dudes, one incredible drummer, numerous midi triggers, a couple of keyboards, a vocoder, one heavy bass, one heavy guitar, and then to top it off you pour lighter fluid all over the cymbals and light them on fire? after the drummer hits them repeatedly to put out the flames, you get Trans Am. this song is one of their best. and this band still sits in my top 10 live acts of all time. amazing. i will drive to cleveland to see this band. that’s how much i love their music.

with all the crap indie-metal-synth-pop-vocoder-idiots out there (that’s right, i’m looking directly at you dan deacon), you can point to trans am as a ground breaking band. on their 2004 record, liberation, they even remixed george w bush speeches into one of the best anti-war songs ever created. these guys are boundary pushers. and sometimes they come up sounding lame and trite (don’t buy the record TA). but for the most part, these guys kill it. and they kill it every time.

the photography:
in these post-film photography years, actors, writers, artists, musicians, businessmen, professionals, public speakers, chefs, and anyone who does something (almost any job me thinks) for a living will inevitably need a professional photograph of their face. with the death of film and the price of quality digital cameras at an all-time low, the need for a head shot is easily remedied. someone you know, somewhere, owns a digital SLR camera and remarkably, you will be able to exchange very little money in return documentation of your person from your belly button to the top of your head.

now i’m not putting down amateur photographers for wanting a piece of the professional pie, hell, i started out doing exactly that. in fact, you must start somewhere and practice makes perfect in this world when it comes to a trade. and there is very little that is new when it comes to portraits. for years and years, people have been documenting themselves for future generations to ogle at and revere over drinks and food. in 1809, you sat for a painter for hours (maybe even days) at a time. in 1909, you held yourself still for 15 seconds or more without blinking so a photographer could capture your image in silver and chemicals.

these portraits are the new proof of life, the artifact to be found by future generations, the art on the wall of a collapsing building on fire. portrait photographs are the new form of existence past death. in 60 years, these photos are the pages that will be thumbed through and purchased at thrift stores and second hand marts across the country; your headshot, your portrait, your memory, your legacy.

but that’s already happening now, right? you go into a thrift store and you can find a dozen old photographs in broken frames, of family members, lost grand parents, and posing great great grandmas in their ugly 1930’s sweaters. but what happens with our generation? you know what they are gonna find? that’s right. our facebook photos. wasted snapshots of how many tequila shots you took on your 27th birthday and hazy moments where your friend captured you checking out that girl’s bosom at that party back in 07. oh yeah. that’s what people will find when we go. oh lord i hope that’s not all they find. let’s make sure we leave our ancestors some good photos no? your grand children might thank us. go get your photo taken by someone, for serious’s sake. and don’t put bunny ears up. don’t wear a shitty sweater. go and make these few shots count. you can save the stupid photos and poses for your next wedding reception.

photos are of two writers, one filmmaker, two actors, two musicians, one new father, and one rather fantastic chef. i love portraits. i love trying to tell a story. i love feeling emotion from people i don’t know. i could study faces for hours. and sometimes i do just that.

the music:
“went to your house this morning, it was a little after nine, could have been the willie nelson, could have been the wine”. gordon downie is known more for his edie brickell meets joe cocker style of spastic dancing than he is for his intriguing and incredibly legible lyrics. downie supposedly has a photographic memory when it comes to conversations and quotes. his lyrics tell incredible stories because of the snippets he remembers from life. we try to create dialogue with our work, he reaches back and reproduces it. no wonder their songs sound so familiar. i really have the biggest love for this band. they are one of the pop-ier bands to grace my catalog but they deserve it. no pulling indie-cred punches here, these guys are canadian and way older than me. listen to them if you like your rock to be rolling with stories to be told and as many hockey references as possible.

the photography:

Portrait #30 is Lauri

lauri is one in a million. she is a wonderful conundrum of sorts (professionally speaking), the kind that can only manifest itself in the modern world of multiple careers, job jockeying, and with a market that is keen on hiring as many creative people as possible. she’s a writer, a photographer, a politically charged painter (on the humor fights fear fights humor side), a lawyer law school grad (by schooling) (my bad!), freelancing coordinator, and according to a biography from the real hot 100 issue of 2007 she’s lived a thousand lives. before tuesday, lauri and i had never met. i guess you could say that i remedied that situation by asking if she’d join the 50 Portraits Project crusade. she said yes. turns out she’s done stuff like this before.

there is something uniquely endearing about small town people who live and create art in the city. escapism is nothing new to the world of literary genius but to those of us who grew up in rural areas, the urban sprawl is something to behold, to digest, to explore, to interrogate, and to investigate. lauri does this on hundreds of different levels with her art, her writing, and her genuine (and i mean it) interest in the lives of everyone around her. it took ten minutes of conversation to catch the documentary bug from lauri.

lessons learned from my experience with lauri? easy: 1. go out and learn, document, photograph, speak with, engage, walk, run, look; and 2. do it all within the world around you that you have yet to explore. i really like that. there are few interactions that are better than meeting people who make you want to get out of you chair, grab your camera, and run out to the closest ‘ren fair’. i reacted exactly that way to lauri.

did i mention that lauri has a couple of websites? i didn’t? well, here they are. and they are awesome. Found Clothing (take the time, read it, it rules), The Trendpiece Factory (art for laughing, art for sale, art for art), and here’s a link to her most recent stuff at the Chicagoist.

the first couple of photos were taken at the Bleeding Heart Bakery (a fantastic place indeed, check it out if you are in Lakeview) and the rest were snapped in the surrounding area. again, sitting tight with the fixed 28mm f1.8. fun. bike shots are an homage to Candy Cane Sammy and his tall bike in my alley way (my goodness that sounds racy). there’s lots of color in these photos, that’s something that i love. lots’a color.

the music:

in the fall 1995, my high school ska band was holding court as the only ska band in vermont (a title quickly sent down the tubes by many other bands that popped up, most notably, Una-Panoona-Ska-ka-Poleeta from montpelier) and as the local jazz fest placed the Skatalites upon the main stage at the end of church street in downtown burlington, this english beat tape was stuck in the dash of my maroon 1988 buick century. by 1998, ska had become such a passing phase as dozens of craptastic bands dragged the genre through the mud (i’m sorry but no doubt sucked and so did most of the sublime catalog). so it comes as no surprise to me that when people say ska, i think of the early eighties and i think of england and i think of these bad boys. who cares what the lyrics are about, feel that bass, rock those horns, kick that upstroke guitar… pick it up pick it up pick it up.

the photography:

Portrait #28 is Joel | Portrait #29 is Elizabeth

kickball shall bring-ith us together-ith. that’s pretty much the mantra that i followed for a while back in 2007. that’s when i met joel. it’s also how i subsequently met elizabeth but i don’t really remember it that well. either way, they were both kind enough to tag along for some logan square photography complete with a 2 block radius sweep of the CTA blueline stop.

joel is a kindred soul. i knew this already but after further discussion, we realized that we each have significant ties to the upper peninsula of michigan and that we both enjoy the same humor and intellectual stimuli. amazingly, we have lived with the same roommate albeit in two different parts of the country and at least 5 years in between the two apartments. funny how life works like that? friends bring friends together in the oddest of ways.

and that is also how i met elizabeth. she’s from the same suburban chicago-land town as joel but they were enough apart in years to not know each other from school. it’s all about how you use your six degrees. the reason i asked joel to be a part of this project was because he is a reader of the blog and he owns this fantastic leather jacket. i told him to bring it with him. elizabeth noticed that joel was being photographed and wanted in. my philosophy? the more the merrier. and she was smashing. it helps when your subjects are comfortable with each other. awkward moments caught on film? we save that for facebook. they do make a pretty pair, don’t they?!

photos again are with the 28mm f1.8. it just makes things right in the world. i’m gonna get the 50mm fixed, someday. numerical order = chronological order = story telling w/out editing.

the music:
i started a thread on twitter the other day that centered around nerf herder lyrics. my friend dixie picked up on it quickly and we have been going strong for a few days now. it’s been cracking me up the entire time. who knew that some fleeting frat-punk band could last the years and make some inspiring songs for the world to hunger over? the song van halen was my introduction to nerf herder. pantera fans in love is where i pee my pants. “i bought van halen I it was the best damn record i ever owned…”

the photography:
at the end of this week i realized how slacker i have really been with posting photos and, ABOVE ALL ELSE, taking photos. so in a flourish of productivity i have secured four new 50PP portrait sessions and i am about to email three more. it feels good to be productive.

do you know what else feels good? going to your local farmer’s market and purchasing fresh produce for which to make the summer’s first crock-pot chili. i am so stoked. walking around evanston’s farmer’s market is always a blast as i know i will be able to sample some fresh fruit, some fresh bread, possibly a nibble of some pickles, and my very favorite – a taste of some of the local jams. if the day is rainy, we’ll usually follow it up with a feature film or some thai. today, the ladies decided it was mani/pedi time and took off. me, i headed home to secure some computer time uninterrupted. win-win.

photos are with the fixed 28mm. still sitting pretty in my #1 spot as fave lens right now. so photojournalistic in nature, and so fast and easy to use. it also is compact and doesn’t get in the way of grocery hauling. daddy’s got to carry what daddy’s got to carry.

the music:
“goodbye mr. good humor, now i’m just a joke”. this is, by far, some of bob nanna’s finest and most heartfelt lyrical work. this song hits so close to home as the subject is coming to grips with his ability to do day-to-day tasks. i too wish that some days i could just “howard hughes” myself in the house and stay in the comforts of what i know and can control. i remember hearing this song early on in college and i remember how it related to my own thought process surrounding self-esteem. big ups to bob for putting it into words. this song picks me up every time.

the photography:
the other night i got together with a couple of other chicago based photographers and we did a fantastic little night walk through streets of downtown chicago. it was, in a word, fantastic. i really enjoyed getting the chance to walk around and shoot the breeze with a couple of shutter-nuts like myself. i think i just coined a phrase. at some point, i’ll have a section on here called shutter-nuts. it’ll be portraits of photographers i have met and know. i think that’s a grand idea.

back to the walk. i am such a sucker for a good long exposure photograph of urban settings. i love trying to figure out how photographers compensate for several light sources, light temps, glares, light pollution, and moving subjects. it just plain fascinates me. when i’m shooting my own long exposure photos, i always carry a large tripod and i try to take the explicitly human element out of the frame. moving vehicles hide their drivers and passengers at night and they allow for a mechanical movement that is still very creepy and linear. long exposures with humans tend to just be blurry masses. which is cool sometimes. but i currently like working with lines and edges and moving parts and big f-stops and clear images and … sorry. i’m rambling.

i remember back in college when i really first experimented with long exposure nighttime photography, i realized that subtle pieces of each image would reveal themselves during the development process after the photo was taken. every time, to this day, my eye adjusts to what it wants to see through the viewfinder at night, not what it actually sees. these days, i get home and pull the images up on the computer and i notice about fifteen things that i didn’t see or take into account when i took the photo. it’s a fun process. i blame the darkness.

anywho, photos are from inside the loop at night and one thing to point out that this is my first real photo of the new trump tower in downtown chicago. it’s an ominous building that i really have grown to like. equipment lugged around after dusk includes: Camera body, tripod, 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 15mm fisheye f2.8, 28mm f1.8 lens, cable release, and extra batteries and CF cards. not a light load but a good time indeed.

the music:
my god these guys can really do no wrong. if i get a chance this year, i am gonna track them down and see a show. if you think i’m kidding, watch this video. oh my. i’m just so stoked to be back in the mess of rock and roll that matters. i am pretty done with dance rock as it was never for me. i am also done with the 80’s being rehashed as “cool”. wow. i could scream about that all day. but i won’t. i’ll just listen to my DJR and love it.

also? this is a lou song. i like it a lot. a lot.

the photography:
as a photographer, i love the wham bam thank you ma’am moments. i adore walking around with a camera around my neck, shooting from the hip, taking it all in, a click here, a click there, you know, real fast like. i would even describe my style as being slightly gung ho. i have very little patience when it comes to the time consuming slow process photos that take four days to set up in the studio. how david lachapelle does it? i will never know. but what i have learned about nature photography might surprise you.

in all honesty? eff ansel adams. eff ansel adams for making nature look perfect. eff ansel adams for taking the time to hike through the world and shoot photos of it. eff ansel adams for living during a time of less man and more nature. eff ansel adams for being a perfectionist. eff ansel adams for leading the general public to think that they can take photos like he could. and most of all, eff ansel adams for making it look easy.

nature photography is hard. very hard. it takes time. you must be in the right place, at the right time, with the right light, during the right season, and with the right angle. every time i take photos of nature i curse my own eyes as false. what i see without my camera and what i see through my camera are totally different things, this i already know. but nature photography widens this disparaging gap. widens. yuck. it drives me nuts that i can’t sit nature down and chat with it for a little while. once we got to know each other a little better, i would take funny, yet unalarming portraits of nature. THAT is never gonna happen.

photos taken with the 24mm-105mm lens. when i’m shooting nature, i’m keeping it wide open. but sometimes you just want a touch of zoom to get those pesky electric lines out of the frame. god i wish i had a helicopter. every angle of the mountains that i want to photograph starts with me, 100 feet off the ground. i’m just saying… (i threw a car in there for good luck measure)

the music:
so again, i am left with very little music to listen to. so gratefully, my inner psyche has divided my brain into two camps. camp #1: chatty cathy. my head keeps yacking on at the speed of light about nothing and everything. someday i’ll draw a map of how my thoughts progress. it will look like someone threw up on the page. camp #2: let’s get rocked by def leppard. someone, please kill me.

the photography:
i am a huge fan of traveling to places you have never been. i enjoy making the journey, landing in a foreign airport, traveling around by taxi (or rental car) and running into the unexpected. well i’ve been to wyoming before but i have never been to jackson. flying into the jackson airport, you literally touch down on the runway as if you were being placed directly in the length of the valley between the mightiest of tetons and his nearest relatives. it’s breathtaking. truly. every time i visit some place new that i visually fall in love with (aesthetically on par with almost every huge landscape in alaska, arizona, and china that i have visited), i start to look at real estate signs and ask questions about the culture. jackson is no different. the only problem with this region? tourists. it’s fun being one. but growing up in vermont taught me two things; 1) real vermonters don’t vacation in new jersey and 2) leaf-peeping tourists can suck it.

photos are with the trusty 28mm f1.8 fixed and my dynamic 24mm-105mm f4. we rode a tram up the length of Rendezvous Mountain which is the largest peak attached to the Jackson Hole Ski Resort. more to come when i visit the rest of the area. hope the kids in chicago are enjoying lalla-pall-ooooooza and all that heat. it’s like 60 and sunny here. weird weather. or better yet, EXTREME…

the music:
i try not to curse when i type. if you’ve met me, you know that i curse a bit here and there but only within polite company. last night, i couldn’t sleep because it was too quiet. living in an urban sprawl of sound and noise (although some would categorize my music as neither ZING!) makes sleeping in a rural setting (and if you looked at the photos, you know what rural means in wyoming) very difficult. since growing up in the woods, i have assimilated to the urban streets and i now need car horns, dog barks, box fans, and airplanes to make my night peaceful. oh well. as depeche mode once said, enjoy the silence…

the photography:
it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. i have quoted that statement so many times it now just flows from my mouth without the slightest touch of irony or snark. these days, when i get together with my best friends for a weekend of crazy, i’m pretty sure i actually mean it. two weekends ago, the pitchforkmedia music festival was in chicago for three nights of fun, music, art, crowds, and above all, drinking- festival style. what a great excuse for three of my groomsmen to float into town for some down home festival loving. and friends in a band who were playing showed up to boot. it was great. with said band, came some VIP passes. wow. you know what makes a great festival even greater? free beer. friday night, after a great noshing on lots of pork (thanks Publican, you rule. i will be back), i endured one of my “Top 10″ going out on the town nights. needless to say, saturday hurt. the photos are from running around the festival grounds and from getting ready in my TV room. count the number of Sparks wrist bands that show up and make sure you look around in each photo, sometimes the best moments are happening outside of what you’re looking at. thanks again to the Bowerbirds, you guys are amazing. shot with the fixed 28mm f1.8. nice.

the music:
dinosaur jr. kick butt. i have been listenign to them, pretty much non-stop, since i was in the 8th grade. it’s one of those bands that are so instantly recognizable and oh so gosh darned love-able and warm and fuzzy, and above all else, loud. this new CD with the original lineup of Murph, J. Mascis, and Lou Barlow, is their first output as the original lineup, in decades. i love it. it’s 1994 all over again. bring the fuzz boxes, the marshall stacks, and shimmy yer butt. i said shimmy!

the photography:
i have been filling in my days making ends meet with various freelance jobs from here and there. the largest of these projects is a bit of work that i am doing with the MFA creative writing department at Columbia College in chicago. i’ve been taking portraits of various contributors for the student run Fictionary magazine. it’s a great opportunity to take portraits of people i have never met before and it’s a great opportunity for me to hone my art direction as I need to put all of the portrait-ees into places and positions from scratch. each of the writers and editors that i have met have been so relaxed and pleasant about the entire process that i wish the rest of the client side of the world would be so kind. the only real guideline that was set before i started was that the images be in black and white. so i’ve been playing a bit with trying to find some really diverse natural (and unnatural) places to shoot. it’s been fun. up next? more portraits. enjoy.

the music:
i absolutely love watching and listening to bands that have fun when they make music on cd and in a live setting. montreal’s Stars fit so nicely into both of those categories. ever since i heard their breakout first record, heart, these kids from canada have been killing it abroad and slowly gaining fans in america. it helps that they are indeed a part of the greater collection of canadian artists known as the “broken social scene”. those crazy socialists in canada actually give money to their artists because it’s a way to progress as a society. society, socialists, communists? while you sit on your hands and try to make a case against socialist tendancies, i’m moving to montreal to get paid to make stuff…

the photography:

Portrait #27 is Doug

so if you know me (and you may not), you know that i like sausages. if you like sausages in chicago, then you know this man. introducing the true sausage king of chicago (Abe Froman can get bent), the one, the only, Mr. Hot Doug. with almost 10 years under his belt as the owner and operator of Hot Doug’s, The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium, Doug has made a name for himself in chicago and throughout the world. the secret ingredient to Doug’s success? a warm inviting hot dog joint jam packed with the essential hot dogs mixed with grand high-art cooking/foodie variety. you can belly up to the counter and order a $1.75 traditional chicago dog (get it charred, that’s my fave), or try a $3.50 spicy chicken sausage, or you can really step up to the plate and order yourself one of the weekly/daily specialty sausages that are filled with anything from Blueberry-Infused Venison Sausage, to Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage and topped with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris. normally one of these specialty sausages will run you close to $8 and/or more but it is definitely worth it.

recently, a rather famous food writer named Doug’s one of the “13 Places to Eat Before You Die”. the awkwardness of that statement is that when i die, heaven better look a lot like Hot Doug’s or i want my money back. with this kind of exposure you would think that Hot Doug’s would be this slick, pretentious, hotbed of hipster know how. in fact, Doug has kept it exactly the opposite. it’s laid back and unpretentious just like the man in charge. to prove my point, Doug has had zero turnover in his employees since he opened this location more the 4.5 years ago. that’s an astounding statistic that points directly to the man in charge as someone that people want to work for. it’s a cash only hot spot that looks a lot like a 70’s diner that was remodeled by a blue/red/yellow loving hot dog memorabilia collector and there is always a line around the door. people may say this a lot but i actually mean it: Hot Doug’s is the perfect place to eat.

so if you make it to chicago and you’re hungry, please give Doug a visit. he’ll make it worth your while. thanks to Doug for taking some time out of his busy morning to chew the fat and allow me to take his picture. if i had the time, i would have stayed all day. i’m not sure he would have liked that! did i mention heaven? photos are with the 28mm prime and again, amazingly, they are in chronological order. they just look best that way.

also, if you run into friends and loved ones at Hot Doug’s? please don’t be a sausage NARC. say hello but never let on that you saw them there (especially if they are eating Hot Doug’s without their wives… shhhhhhhhhhhhh).

the music:
gene and dean ween have been doing their thing for some time now. and i have seen the destruction of their live shows, and i have seen their warnings against and for the use of drugs, and i have seen them fall over wasted, and i have seen them break a drum machine, and i have seen them make fart jokes on stage, and i have seen them play 12 Golden Country Greats with a slide guitar player, and i have seen the coming of the lord during the second set when they broke into a 24 minute long version of Poop Ship Destroyer, and i have heard their music loud and clear. ween fans are better than phish fans. don’t let anyone tell you different. ween’s shit don’t stink. that’s the truth.

the photography:

Portrait #25 is Amy | Portrait #26 is Gareth

before you all get into a tizzy about “where the hell did all the famous people go?”… just chill out. amy and gareth are famous but none of ya’ll know it yet (including them). amy works behind the scenes at the truly fantastic television program, Antiques Roadshow (the american version) and is partly responsible for keeping me on track in college during my early years. i met amy when i worked at admissions as a tour guide. she was the one who called me and got me out of bed when i missed my tours. she’s awesome.

gareth is her husband. he and i have done many stupid and fun things together including one bourbon filled night that ended with some metallic paint on our faces, a happy birthday balloon, and helium. luckily only roger slept under someone’s bed that night. back in the early oughts (00’s), gareth and i started (with a number of other people) an online magazine for twentysomethings looking to make more out of their lives than a paycheck and a pension. it was fun while it lasted and gareth and i have stayed friends throughout. we also played ultimate frisbee together in college back when we were both hippies. this piece of knowledge will be denied in person so don’t ask us about it. he currently is starting a new job with CBS Sports (as he formerly worked for the New England Patriots and Fox Sports) working on their 2009-10 football season and on the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. he’s also just as fantastic as his wife.

and again, i shot them entirely with the prime 28mm. the photos were taken during a day of checking out the new modern art wing at the Art Institute here in chicago. it was a glorious day with lots of thinking and lots of people watching. a good time was had by all. SIDE NOTE: i take full credit most of the credit for introducing Amy and Gareth (the hahn picks up 10% for early date help and in cultivating interest). in turn, Gareth takes credit for introducing me to my wife. a karmic high-five indeed. when i get famous, they will definitely tell people that they know me much like the current state if things where i tell people that i know them.

the music:
mark linkous, the brains and hands behind sparklehorse, is a solemn dude. i think that’s why i point to this record so much when i’m chatting to someone about my long path towards maturity as an adult. i purchased this disc solely on the advice of mike, the owner and operator of Aboveground Records (one of the best) on the vineyard one afternoon. i think i listened to this record for about two years straight without stopping. it lead to some heavy decision making within my personal life with losing friends who wanted to mold me into something i wasn’t, leaving boston, finding raleigh, drinking, finding myself, losing myself again, drinking, breaking up with a girlfriend who wanted to mold me into something i wasn’t, and finally waking up one day in chicago. PJ Harvey guests on this track. and she rules. it’s a deep record with lots of sad tones and somber lows. luckily it’s not all tears in beers, there are some uplifting tracks sprinkled about. much like this one.

the photography:

Portrait #24 is Jay

about 3 years ago, my wife was looking through the Chicago Reader for stuff to do on a random weekday with her lady friends. she found the perfect distraction. after lunch with the ladies, they all wandered over to the now defunct Mystery City Gallery on Halsted and Armitage in Lincoln Park. holding his second ever painting show and first solo art exhibit was none other than the screen printing guru of chicago, mr. Jay Ryan. i got a phone call from outside of the show. “hey babe, remember that poster guy you like? he’s doing a solo exhibit of his paintings. i really think we should buy one”. one slight arm twist later and we are the proud owners of a Jay Ryan original. after a few weeks of eating ramen and lettuce for dinner, we met the man himself at the gallery while picking up the painting. it was awesome. fast-forward 3 years and i emailed Jay to see if he’d help out with my 50 Portraits Project. he said yes. Jay, his wife (an accomplished illustrator, screen printer, etch-er-ist, and painter whose credits include posters, CD covers, and lots of incredible fine art) Diana Sudyka, and their greyhound Seth reside on the north shore while Jay runs one of the best poster/screen printing houses in the country (especially if you need a poster for your band). his now legendary tour posters for Fugazi, The Pitchfork Music Festival, Shellac, Hum, Andrew Bird, and his own band, Dianogah hang in dorm rooms, offices, living rooms (including mine), and countless art galleries. his work has been compiled and published and his mark on chicago indie music and art scene is cemented in the fact that you know you’ve hit the big time if you get to play a show with Dianogah or if Jay designs a poster with your band’s name on it. it was an honor and pleasure to photograph him in his studio known as The Bird Machine. SIDE NOTE: Jay has quite a collection of old school Powell Peralta boards including a couple of original Mike McGill signature models. Bones Brigade Boo Ya.

the music:
shellac. what can i say about a band that only tours a dozen shows a year, releases an album every 6 years, and sells the same t-shirt that they designed in the late 1990’s? these guys really do take their art very seriously. they just don’t do it quickly. their live shows are highlighted by joke telling, question taking, team drumming, and inside jokes that they’ve been pulling for years. they never cease to entertain. fronted by the snarky (and photographed) Steve Albini and Bob Weston, Shellac are the second most seen band in my concert going history. they have a long way to catch up to Ted Leo and his Pharmacists. but some day… maybe. buy their records. you won’t be let down if you like underground grinding post punk played on Travis Bean guitars with metal picks through homemade amplifiers. this track is from the last ditch effort to save the infamous chicago venue, Lounge Ax.

the photography:

Portrait #23 is Steve

when i started this project i was going to photograph only the people i knew. well i broke out of that slump with Bob. when i started this project i was going to only use my 50mm 1.4 prime lens. well i broke that lens 10 minutes after shooting Andrew. i guess things are always going to be different than the way you envision them. the best advice i can give? sometimes you gotta let it go, sometimes you gotta go with the flow. speaking of which,

holy shit.

i just went with the flow and i photographed Mr. Steve Albini. did i mention holy shit? steve is one of those “holier-than-thou” (and i mean that in a wayne and garth “we’re not worthy” sorta way, not in a “hey man, albini’s stuck up” sorta way. cause he’s not. he’s a sweetheart) musical figures whose bands, writings, productions, and quotes speak for themselves. without gushing too much, steve is somewhat responsible and/or has had a hand influencing much of the indie (and not so indie, does anyone remember Nirvana?) post punk rock you hear. bands like Big Black, Rapeman, and his latest (although they have been a band for more than 10 years) Shellac set a tone for many a young kid listening to music that doesn’t get played in the radio. this weekend i went to a set of hometown saturday-night-and-a-sunday-matinee Shellac shows. after sweating his ass off on stage, steve was kind enough to spend a quick spell in front of my camera. the first half of the pics are from the beginning of the sunday matinee show (which was indeed kid friendly). the second half are just steve being steve. it was awesome. thanks steve for being a nice dude. and thanks for gracing us with your music and criticism and wit and production and…. sorry, i was just gushing. my bad. SIDE NOTE: i shot this series entirely with my Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM which is the second fastest wide angle in the Canon arsenal. i bought this lens second behind the EF 24-105 4L USM that came with my 5D. i love it. i hadn’t used it in ages. in a rare act of OCD, these photos are being displayed in chronological order. DOUBLE SIDE NOTE: i was just informed, via a note from my own personal editor Vann, via Twitter: “I desrv a producers credit for tickts & making u go to the show. Also I’m fairly sure u wouldn’t have be born w/out me either ”

entire post produced by @vmg2. thnx 4 tha tix.

the music:
jawbox is one of two bands to leave dischord records for a major label. it’s probably one of the most unforgiveable acts that an indie band can do. leave a powerhouse underground indie label for the big time? and a righteous and ethical label to boot. but you know what? “selling out” allowed for j. robbins to create the music that he wanted to create for not only jawbox but also for many of the bands that j. recorded as a recording engineer and record producer. did jawbox make any more money on atlantic? who knows. but disoto records bought back the two atlantic recordings and have re-released them. that’s totally awesome. artists should have control over what happens to their art no matter what. this song pretty much sums up the pace, urgency, and power of jawbox. one of my big regrets in my late teens was not taking someone up on the chance to see them live. damn damn damn.

the photography:
not 35 minutes before i started walking home after shooting these photos and the portraits of andrew (50PP #21) did i drop my camera on the sidewalk thus temporarily destroying the usability of my 50mm 1.4. a shame really. it’s my favorite lens. relatively inexpensive, fast, caring, loving and light, this lens had it all. sometimes when i think about the times we shared together, the cold nights huddled in the corner after long walks on the beach in the rain, crying while screening fried green tomatoes, eating pate and toast crisps, i just want to sob hysterically in the arms of my 24-70mm 2.8. ah…. the memories… am i cheating? when i figure out if it’s fixable, i’ll keep you posted. these photos are of and from the gallery with which i am a member. one of the members found an old ceiling section made of tin in the dumpster. before you could say, Ro Sham Bo, it was cleaned up and attached to the ceiling in the gallery. it’s pretty sweet.

the music:
must stop listening to this record… must stop myself… must… can’t… won’t…

the photography:

Portrait #22 is Bob

so one thing that you might not know about bob is that he has an extensive collection of polaroid pictures. and not just any old polaroid pictures, bob has a never ending polaroid picture. it’s quite fantastic. bob started with one polaroid instant portrait. after the first photo was developed, it would be held by the next portraitee so as to show off the previous portraitee. do you get the picture (snarky pun, my bad…)? either way, the project is a fantastic realization of the uses of polaroid film which is becoming extremely hard to find and expensive. as bob scans and posts new photos, the list of people popping up in the photographs is becoming a who’s who of american indie musicians. you will probably recognize at least a few shiny famous faces along the way. to check out his never ending polaroid, CLICK HERE. it’s impressive to say the least. this link should make you want to make something. so why dontcha? go make some art, you’ll feel better. side note: bob lying down on the skateboard ramp clutching his cast hand in #2 was his idea and i love it. also, the t-shirt he’s holding up in #4 reads “Rock is Dead, Paper Killed it”. amazing…

the music:
as far as movie soundtracks go, this one is a doozy. i have bought this record on vinyl no less than 5 different times in my life. it is an essential reggae album as well as an essential struggle/oppression/good_vs._evil album. the title track is jimmy at his best. the subsequent movie that this song appears on is also quite good if you can make it past the erratic editing, poor sound quality, and less than mediocre acting. cliff was trying to tell us something and man, we should have listened. amazingly, my brother brought me to a jimmy cliff concert when i was just 13. life has really not been the same since. and it wasn’t the smoke in the air that did me in, it was the music.

the photography:

Portrait #22 is Bob

first off, i did something i thought i would never do. i dropped my camera about 2.5 feet above a concrete sidewalk. i’ve never done that before. and before you get all up in arms, the only thing that broke was my 50mm 1.4 lens. THE ONLY THING? i need a vacation from myself… but more importantly, i got to meet and photograph the most excellent, bob nanna. bob is a musician who works at threadless t-shirts and he has had numerous previous lives in the bands, certain people i know, the city on film, hey mercedes, braid, and friction. now if you are thirtysomething who has a slight love for all things 1998 kick-ass post punk, (gasp) emo, chicago mathrock, than you already know who bob is. i first heard bob’s name after a get-up kids show in worcester, mass. as i was smoking a cigarette outside someone was talking about him and his guitar gear (Gibson SG, Marshall half stack, etc…). i asked the question “who is bob nanna?”. and someone retorted, “you don’t know? he’s the singer for Braid… duh.” my bad. i knew the music, never the name. i know who he is now. as i start to get into the heart of the 50 Portraits Project, i decided to push the boundaries of my own shyness and ask people that i respect (a whole hell of a lot) to sit and be photographed. andrew huff was the first (as i once started a website that really wanted to be Gaper’s Block but never got off the ground) and i’m already on to mr. nanna. who’s next? well… you’ll just have to come back and see. bob and i had so much fun cruising around the very photogenic threadless offices that i had to split this portion of the 50PP into two parts. as you may notice in these photos, i spent a good amount of time battling the lighting. as the 50PP is done without the use of external light sources attached to the camera, i ended up using both the natural and unnatural light in threadless. all in all, it makes for some fun saturations and skin tones. enjoy. every shot here was taken with my EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. shed a tear for the 50mm.

the music:
this album pretty much sums up the end of my college career. a friend gave it to me and it’s never left my side. i was once told that i would never be able to listen to this song in my friend ashley’s volvo ever again. i pretty much beat this album into the ground and it still holds all of the energy and insight that it did more than 10 years ago. as the promise ring started to call it quits in the early 2000’s i managed to catch them on their last tour through boston. it was a fantastic swan song show with all of the energy that i expected from a band that was playing for the fans. i quite enjoyed the hell out of it. i look back and wish i was hearing this record for the first time. and in some ways, i hear something new every time i play it. just a side note but J. Robbins produced this record. you should google him. he’s worked on some fantastic records.

the photography:

Portrait #21 is andrew

andrew is the editor in chief of one of chicago’s great blogs, Gapers Block. i met andrew a couple of years ago at a Gaper’s anniversary party. my wife had befriended him via her path as a PR superhero. andrew has one of those memorable faces (which may be directly linked to his sideburns) and when i decided to branch out of my inner circle for this 50 Portraits Project, his name was near the top of the list. i met with andrew, his wife, and a few of their friends for a beer and some portraits (i am lying about the beer because it’s hard for me to say cider in public). please check out GB as it collects the finest that chicago has to offer in the arts, social stratospheres, food, politics, and puts it out there in blog form for all to see. check it out for sure. thanks to andrew and cinnamon for letting me hang for a bit. i would love to see the photos (that cinnamon took) of me taking andrew’s photo. that would be a fantastic attachment to this post.

the music:
besides the aptly chosen name for this band, there are many many many things i love about this multi-pieced group from scotland. fortunately almost all of my interest stems from their lead singer tracianne. my god. for a long time now, i have had an imaginary friendship with her. we run in the fields of grass, we hold hands, we toe the sand on the beach together, we take funny polaroids of each other outside of the Louvre, we ride a bicycle built for two together, and we go skinny dipping in the pond without looking at each other (ok so maybe i look but i know she doesn’t). it’s fantastic. their music is so bubbly, so happy, and so much more than the bubblegum pop that it poses as. this band is now five records into a great career and your should buy them all. but make sure to bring your toothbrush. this band is indeed, too sweet for most. i almost fainted when my friend ivan introduced me to tracianne back in 2004. true story.

the photography:
so the weather in chicago has yet to let up. crappy rain and 60 degree fog soaked mornings are what i’m dealing with. if i wanted to live in the PNW, i would have moved there years ago. yuck. the photos today are from the middle of dearborn street, in the offic parking garage, and from this fantastic recording studio in an old loft off the river in Milwaukee. the photo looking north up dearborn street is pretty self-explanatory as is the parking garage image. the recording studio loft was the setting for my recent shoot with All Tiny Creatures. these kids are fantastic. check them out. the shots were taken with my 15mm fisheye. a cheeky look but i totally dig it. the studio reminded me of my old art space in cicero. i shed a tear. BTW… i love the stigmata photo with a polaroid. might go down in history as one of my favorite “found” pieces of art. i love walking around old buildings and looking rooms.

the music:
do any of you remember when INXS hit the states over the head in 1986? i do. my brother was just getting into music (his musical tastes coincided with his love for skateboarding and included such great underground and new wave heroes as The Dead Milkmen, INXS, OMD, and the Thompson Twins) and my parents always let us play pop radio on our Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon. so when INXS took the US by storm i was there. and i was impressionable. these records stick with me wherever i go and let’s be completely honest, Don’t Change is one of the greatest songs ever written. i don’t care what kind of music you like.

the photography:

Portrait #20 is tom

i met tom sometime around 3 years ago when i was helping to run a small art space out in cicero, illinois. one of tom’s bands, The Collections of Colonies of Bees, played our first ever show. it was awesome. my mannequin, Todd, was on the speaker riser behind tom (who plays a rhodes piano amongst other things…) and at some point during the night, the music got so loud that Todd slipped off the speaker and crashed from a height of about 4 feet onto poor tom’s head. it was awful. but did tom miss a beat? not even close. he kept playing through like nothing had happened. it was amazing to witness. and the only damage done? poor Todd’s head split open and his eyes fell out. tom? not a scratch (although i did not check for bruising). so when i got a message from tom asking me to help out and take photos of his current (the bees are not dead, tom’s in a couple of bands) project, All Tiny Creatures, i jumped at the chance to hang out with the kids from wisconsin. it was definitely fun. the first three of these photos are from the ATC shoot (and i know i’m breaking my own rule of doing all of these photos with a prime 50mm lens) and the last three are from an early dinner we had after the shoot. thanks to tom and the kids for being around. make art.

the music:
the figgs from saratoga springs new york are one of the best live bands to never be seen by the masses. these guys bring the rock like very few acts out there. as a three-piece, the figgs slugged through new england and the mid-atlantic for much of the 90’s and 00’s without hitting it big. an early major record deal gone sour, critical acclaim without record sales, amazing live shows seen by packed house in boston, hartford, and albany, and not a whole lot to show for it except some of the best records ever made. they know how good they are, and that’s all that matters. side note: i totally designed a t-shirt for them in 2001. amazing. they rule.

the photography:
here are 5 B&W photos of what i have come to call a tree nosher. it’s actually a machine known as a logging skid. this one is pretty beat up. ahhhh. can’t you just smell the northeast kingdom of vermont? the problem with black and white on a super sunny day is that the green grass and the blue sky are almost the same amount of neutral gray. also, the harsh overhead light creates bad harsh underbody shadows. oh well. this thing was cool.

the music:
this might just be a swearing at motorists marathon. you all should support your local heroes. dayton has the motorists. what does your town have?

the photography:
spending five days in the state of my youth reminds me of how much i HATED where i grew up when i was a kid and inversely just how much i LOVE it as an adult. visiting family and friends is always good for the soul and this past weekend was no exception. as i wrote earlier, my nephews are ridiculous. here’s some photos from wandering the place. a motorcycle, a house, some trees, great bubbly, lobsters, and a privy. my feet felt like they were up all weekend long.

the music:
swearing at motorists are one of the great unsung midwest indie rock heroes. their biting wit and dead-on lyrics cut even the most staunch listener to the core and they make random stories about small city living relevant to anyone. it’s fantastic lyrics mixed with lo-fi DIY production that sounds miles better than it should. these guys should be touted as the “best little band with song writing that people have never heard”. this song could have ended up on a modest mouse rarities record. the touching line for me (sorry about the curse words in advance): “you shut the fuck up, and you calm the fuck down.” he means it.

the photography:
hanging out this weekend in vermont couldn’t be any sweeter. my twin nephews are here as are my brother and sister-in-law. it’s a good old down home family get-together. we spent the day running around burlington. amazingly we ran into friends from high school, friends from college, and one random friend from chicago who just happened to be rolling around downtown. spending time at my parents house means lots of lounging on the rug in the living room, lots of watching/talking hockey, lots of talking about kids i went to high school with, and much chewing of the fat. it’s pretty awesome. photos are of the boys. they are damn cute. the first one is titled “shit patrol”. the rest are untitled.

the music:
the beach boys remind me of sitting in my parents living room listening to my dad’s vast collection of vinyl records. we had all of the hits of the 50’s, 0’s, and early 70’s and i would spin them left and right and make my mom dance with me. it was an awesome time. besides tim hardin and bob dylan, the beach boys were number 1.

the photography:

Portrait #19 is theresa

to break out of my shell for the middle third of these 50 portraits i have decided to meet and shoot some local chicago web celebs. first on my list? the owner, operator, and sole proprietor of The Local Tourist website (go check it out with the link provided, you’ll love it!), theresa. the site is a great way to explore chicago from where to eat to site seeing to venues. an awesome website run by an awesome person. i met theresa about 2 months ago while working with my wife at a meeting of the tweeters (tweet-up) and i realized early that theresa has one of those personalities that you don’t forget easily, especially when paired with her curly red hair. shooting photos in the early evening is fantastic so matching up the orange glow of the sun with the orange glow of her hair was perfect. also, talking and walking through your portraitee’s favorite park/stomping grounds for an hour or so is a great way to capture said portraitee’s personality. so go check out her site. you’ll be glad you did. thanks theresa for chewing the fat. viva la Local Tourist. also, i am just a sucker for some natural lens flair. take that photoshop!

the music:
i woke up this morning and i took the dog to the dog sitter and i drove down western avenue (one of, if not THE, longest streets in chicago) and all i could do was hum this song. i love the cars. i love love love the cars. this song (which is occasionally mistaken to be titled “I like the night life baby”) appears on a great album that features of the greatest album covers of all time. LINK. and lots of people forget about ben orr. rip mr. orr, your voice and songs will be missed.

the photography/internets part two:
twitter to me is a meeting of the minds where ideas can flow and friends can chat and people can show off what they’ve been working on. sure it’s an addictive way to spring your life onto old friends who haven’t seen you since high school graduation (sorry kids, i know i’m scary like that…). but it’s also a place to learn from seasoned veteran photographers and aspiring amateurs alike. for photographers at any level, the learning curve is never complete. practice does indeed make perfect but perfect keeps moving ever further out of reach with each photo you take. twitter, along with some tutorial style blogs and Flickr, allow for an open conversation about everything from the technical aspects of photography (lighting, cameras, lens’, editing, etc.) to the overarching creative techniques (styles, manipulations, cropping, etc.).

these days being a photographer doesn’t mean that you have to lock down all of the information you have accumulated through the years and store it away so that your favorite and most loyal assistant can abuse it and drag your name through the mud after you’ve retired. these days you can broadcast knowledge in 140 character snippets. sure, the market is being saturated by amateurs posing as professionals and vice-versa but the competition/posturing should inspire you to pass on what you know so that people can actually learn the trade instead of just speak it. i personally think it’s a great idea. i love spending hours looking at photos, the good and the bad. my best piece of advice for photographers is this: if you’re interested about getting better and learning more? go down to your local photography center and sign up to take a class. it’ll be worth your while. and lest we forget…

every great photographer takes a bunch of shitty photos every shoot.

so what is my favorite lens? well, let me tell you. i have 2.

lens 1:
for most of the week i work as a staff photographer for cars.com. most of my job revolves around documenting every car that comes into the office for review. i spend a lot of time in and around auto shows, new car launches, manufacturer tours, and proving ground tests so i see my fair share of metal shiny objects under crippling lighting conditions. to get through the day? i rely on the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM zoom lens. when i am looking to document the outside of a car, i shoot between 50mm and 70mm so as not to distort the proportions of the exterior (the photojournalist in me says “don’t distort proportions when documenting”. it’s fine in an artistic realm). for the interior, i make sure to use the lens across it’s range with wide dash shoots captured at 24mm and the fit and finish close-ups of the glove compartment at 70mm. it’s a fast lens that’s durable in various lighting situations and contains just enough range to keep my foot zoom to a dull roar.

lens 2:
when it comes to shooting portraits (a personal fave of mine and how i spend much of my time shooting photographs when not around cars) i like to grab my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. fast, light, and with just the right balance of “i’m not trying to scare you with this camera in your face but i am trying to get you to make the perfect reactionary stare”, this lens is what i carry around with me even when i don’t have a camera on me. that way, if i’m trapped at work i can plop it on my camera body there. and if i want to walk the dog and some kid walks by with melting ice cream down his front? i won’t miss the shot because my camera body at home is always ready to be used. and let’s be honest. i tweeted this the other day:



@IDMPhoto: going out w/camera w/50mm prime. 50 f1.4 is the OG lens.
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the first image is a collection of 81 photos i took of the all new 2009 Cadillac CTS-V. one heck of a car. 6.2L 556hp engine. basically a 4-door Corvette. not for the light at heart. 12mpg to boot. all photos taken with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM.

the second image is from a recent shoot with Markely. notice the man off frame left and the people just to his left shooting photos. there’s nothing more fun than watching people point their cameras at something (in this case, the bean in downtown chicago) and clicking away. ah… poetic. captured with my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM.

the music:
what better way to write about the current state of photography than to listen to the former current state of pop music. my love for duran duran’s music is almost skin deep. sugary pop from england was shoved down my throat by an early babysitter who looked and acted every bit the part. she had spent a couple of years living with her father in london and when she moved back to the states (southern minnesota to be exact) she brought with her simon le bon’s hair style, nick rhodes’ grimmace, and enough swagger to fill any one of the taylor’s shoes. so it is with great head bobbing and no guy-liner that i listen to this record. sigh. to be in 2nd grade again and have a choice to listen to the dead milkmen or duran duran. as my brother always said back then (and probably today as well), “Twisted Sister sucks!” indeed.