Dancing In The Moonlight: Midwest Teen Ministry Prom 2009

May 16 was a special night for these kids, and I hope my work here reflects what it meant for them.

As you can see, they felt like they had a lot to celebrate. I took about 100 photos that look a lot like this one, because they were jumping and throwing their hands in the air all night.

Great pedicure...

"Where are we going after this?"

The last dance...

Time to say goodnight.

Nancy "Action" Jackson

The Chicago Reporter  hired me to shoot portraits of Nancy, a.k.a. "Jackson In Action," for their story about her non-profit organization, Night Moves.  "Action" is not an overstatement — we went through 8 backgrounds in less than half an hour.

Most of Night Moves' work is done on the street (in an RV, that could not be there that morning), so we went down to the broken streets of inner-city Chicago...

Nancy's a nice lady to work with: I told her to jump on a chair so she could get closer to this mural, and that was no problem.  And she's actually texting here.

Since we were minus the RV, we went to the classroom in a Wicker Park school that doubles as Night Moves' office.

Get Your Rear In Gear 5K race

Rain, sun, wind, RUN! The Colon Cancer Coalition brought its 5K fundraising race, Get Your Rear In Gear, to Chicago's Lincoln Park on April 25, attracting more than 500 participants. I don't think I ran a full 5K that morning, but I did dash through the outfield of a softball game elsewhere in the park to get some of these shots. To browse the entire gallery or to order prints, click here.

The kids' race came first...

Hard wind, hard-working volunteers.

This is why some of them ran...

(Watch out for crumbling pavement)

...and this is why others ran.

The 2009 ICYFM

The International Churches Of Christ held their 2009 International Conference for Youth & Family Ministry at the Westin in Lombard, IL April 16-18. I could only shoot half of one day because I had a really busy weekend schedule (more of those coming later), but it was 

one packed half-day. As you can see below, just a portion of the event included...

John Louis, a minister from Jakarta...

Recommended reading...

Large crowds for the specialty classes, where those who were unfortunate enough to not get a seat were dedicated enough to either sit or stand...

Friends conversing in front of the Westin's color-cascading waterfall...

A lot of lessons worth concentrating on...

Music...

The chance to leap into the arms of Jesus (OK, it was a dance skit)...

Panel discussions about the many issues facing the youths of the 21st century...

One wired technical crew...

And a lot of old, close and/or new friends, all sharing the bond of love for youth ministry...

Portrait session with The Harlequins

I loved this shoot because it lasted about 6 hours, I used every piece of equipment in my bag as the setting changed from daylight to indoors to underground to night...and it ended with a trip to what may be Cincinnati's best pizza, Adriatico's.

This is my experience with The Harlequins, an emerging rock group in Cincy.

Augie and Amy, satin and Chuck Taylors

I had blacked out April 4 in my day-planner for a long time...that was the day that my buddy Augie from DeKalb, IL would marry his dream girl, Amy. I knew how much everything that would be happening that day would mean to him, so I did my best to produce good work for him.

This photo is how I know Augie found the right girl: The guests were leaving, the lights were getting turned off, the hall was getting packed up...Augie and Amy were still dancing.