The longest senior portrait session in the history of senior portraits

I ended up having 5 different days with Edwin, one of Taft's 2009 graduates, spread out over a period of weeks. One session began at 2:15 a.m., when the scene we wanted for the background was finally the way we wanted it; another was at 9 a.m. on a Sunday; and for the basketball shots, I made him jump over and over until he was beaded up with sweat (and it was May, not hot in Chicago).  This whole process was a great experience...I'm smiling as I think about everything it took to get it right.

The interview was no piece of cake, either.  It was a piece of pizza.  Bacci.  And a couple refills of orange Ne-Hi.  When I interview clients, my first question always stumps everybody — "Tell me about yourself. Who is (in this case) Edwin?"

It always takes a while to get a response.  Eventually, "He's a nut" is the reply.

"A person who loves to have a good time. Hard worker."

Sometimes the hard work is the having of the good time, like doing layups on cue while the photographer says "No, your arm was in the way that time...no, the shadow from the backboard got on your face again...no, I'm out of focus, do it again."

Being polite is important to Edwin (he bought my Bacci to make up for missing what would have been our sixth session, because of circumstances he did not control). He says he is motivated: he loves playing sports, including football but especially basketball...

...and he will be off to Southern Illinois University this fall to study sound engineering. His style, at this point: purist. "I want to try to go back to the Aerosmith and Run-DMC days," he says, adding to the pedigree with one of rock music's greatest innovators: "I'm a Stevie Wonder guy."

Entertainment is important to Edwin on other levels: action movies and comedies, touring downtown Chicago and crushing foes at what he considers the greatest video games of all time: Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter II, NBA Live for the Game Cube ("The basketball games that come out now still aren't as good as that") and the old NBA Jams ("Where every time, the last game was always against the Bulls").

If you get the chance to meet this northwest-side native, I advise you to make him laugh. It's not hard, and it's worth whatever effort it takes.

Community Renewal Society's 35 Under 35 Awards

I liked the facility I was shooting in, the event I was shooting and the group I was shooting for. The Community Renewal Society is a Chicago non-profit that works in a variety of ways to, well, as the name implies, just make stuff better. One of their annual events is the 35 Under 35 Awards: The group takes nominations from the public for Second City leaders who are both young and getting stuff done, then gives plaques and recognition to those who are getting the most done in the best ways.

It was a nice facility in downtown Chicago...

Lots of good people...

The prize.

The 35 Under 35 class of 2009.

Could be an award recipient of the future?

Carole and friends sing

The photos can't bring you the sounds Carole and her friends created June 10, but I think you'll see the feelings they generated. This was the Singer Spotlight at Fitzgerald's Night Club.

Transitional housing

I can't write much about these photos here...the full story will be in The Chicago Reporter. The woman and her son are living in a south-side Chicago transitional housing center, working and hoping to put enough money together to move out and afford a place of their own.

Not a lot of "news value" in the photo below, I just couldn't live without it: the kid is in the process of stringing a bit long goober out!

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.