The Great Western Roadtrip

So for the bulk of August, I took my daughter West, and I learned some things about myself and how I relate to photography. We went all over the place, Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, up Pike's Peak and into the mountains at Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw Mount Rushmore and stayed a week in Breckenridge, Colorado. And I took like, three pictures of note. 

I used to think landscape photography was easy, until I learned that I was no good at it. I thought 'Well, its gorgeous and it comes pre-lit, how hard can this be?'. Apparently there's more to it, and as of now, I don't know what that is. I get the foreground, middleground, background rules, and I know that I have to wait for the right light. I get the nitty gritty technique stuff, but I'm not sure I have the personality for it. I found myself running on rocks with my daughter and chasing her up hills and throwing her into swimming pools way more than I found myself behind a camera. Of the two things I love, photography and her, its clear to me who wins out. Also, I firmly believe that memories are best created with our eyes, recording on our brains and wouldn't sacrifice the ability to do that by having my camera in front of my face. I think that since I'm a professional photographer, the pressure I feel to make 'good' work anytime I snap a photo keeps me from truly enjoying landscape photography, because I'd rather be in a place than photograph it.

Or maybe this is smoke and rationalization because I suck at it. Either way, here're a few images, with possibly more to come.

Door County 2015

Door County, WI holds a special place in my heart. For about a bazillion years, various generations of my family have vacationed here. There's not as much call for traditional Wisconsin supper club meals that are four courses and all involve a big hearty slice of red meat at some point anymore, and so old family favorite restaurants are shuttered or replaced by overpriced 'haute cuisine'. There are more fancy spa resorts than there are rustic cabins now, and craft chocolatiers and distilleries outnumber cheesy miniature golf courses by a wide margin. The once incredible art scene has been watered down by people who make fine-art lawn sprinklers and 'beadwork' (chintzy tourist necklaces), but it is still obviously the place of my memories, on the surface and deeper down. The natural beauty of the place hasn't changed. Here's a few photos that prove that, and demonstrate why my kid's kids will still want to come here. 

Somehow on a Russian design blog?

So, it was brought to my attention that my images of a concrete bunker of a home have appeared on a Russian design blog. Normally, I'd get all huffy about rights and usage, but...the irony of them liking the concrete building and the fact that my work looks cool next to cyrillic has kept me from doing so thus far. Click the link to see what I mean...

http://www.pufikhomes.com/2014/06/betonnyie-dzhungli-v-amerike/

Chicago Magazine H+G 2014 Cover

So when I was first starting out, I assisted on a shoot for Chicago Magazine and thought to myself, 'Man, maybe one day I'll get to shoot for them too.'. Last month felt very accomplished for me, as the December issue of Chicago Magazine had my work on the cover of the Home + Garden insert. I had kind of a moment.

Here's the rest of the layout.

Podcast with Christine Wolf about my artist studios series.

I recently had the honor of being interviewed by Christine Wolf as part of her podcast series. We discuss the Open Studios Evanston project, my view on fine vs. commercial art and that bankers are people too. Its funny and enlightening, so check it out.

Cool video I shot for my friend/mentor Bob Coscarelli

Last summer, I had the privilege of shooting a video for Bob Coscarelli. The featured house is in Lincoln Park and ran in an issue of Chicago Home + Garden. The concept here was to give a behind the scenes sneak peek at Bob's shoot for the magazine, but I ended up getting a little carried away with showing the various gorgeous details of the home. Give it a watch, it's pretty short and pretty looking. Click here to watch it!