Category Archives: Chicago Corporate Photographer

Lisa Kendall Jewelry Designs

Chicago-based jewelry designer Lisa Kendall has been creating her own unique style of elegant/Bohemian jewelry for many years and selling strictly on a word-of-mouth basis.  Finally, she decided it was time to get a web site.  I recently shot 100 pieces of her jewelry and practically overnight her web site was live.   

Chicago Urban Farms

Urban farm, it almost sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me, it isn’t. These farms are sprouting up (no pun intended) all over Chicago and other urban areas, and represent an efficient way to re-purpose under-utilized warehouse space in the city, often in economically distressed areas. Plus, they offer a tremendous opportunity for small-scale organic farmers to ply their trade in a supportive and mega-green environment.

I recently had the occasion to photograph two such urban farms: The Plant and Iron Street Farm. The former calls itself “a net-zero energy vertical farm and food business operation” whose purpose is to “promote closed-loop food production and sustainable economic development through education and research.” Now that’s a mouthful (no pun intended). And the later is a “seven-acre site on Chicago’s south side that produces local, healthy, and sustainable food year-round with a focus on serving, training, and engaging vulnerable populations.” Urban farms produce a wide range of products including cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, honey, beer, compost, and even fish. I suspect when we sang “Old McDonald had a farm” this wasn’t exactly the type of farm we were referring to.

Dancers Promote Non-Violence

Alumni from the Kids Can Dance group in Evanston performed a series of dances yesterday at Evanston Township High School. The theme was non-violence, an appropriate message considering the rash of violence plaguing teens locally and around the country. The program is being done in conjunction with “Ten Thousand Ripples”, an art project featuring ten Buddha sculptures being installed around the city, much like the cow exhibit of several years ago.

Chicago Auto Show 2013

Several years ago, more than one million people came to McCormick Place to visit the world’s largest indoor parking lot, often referred to as the Chicago Auto Show.  For the auto aficionado, this was a once-a-year opportunity to touch the cars you only dream about: Ford, Chevy, Honda, Kia, and even Hyundai.  And those lucky few willing to wait in long lines had the heart-stirring experience of sitting in the front seat and looking out the same windshield that people who actually own these cars will look through.  This is heady stuff.  But the show appealed to the mind and not just the passions of the attendees–vital information could be gleaned from the knowledgeable staff at the show: Does the F-150 come in diesel?  How many cup holders in a Mini-Cooper?  Are floor mats here to stay?  With hundreds of cars buffed to a blinding patina, and the entire convention floor reeking of that “new car smell”, this was the ultimate in Auto Erotica. For me, the highlight was seeing a 1969 black GTO, that sexy muscle car that Gregg and I took across country in the ultimate road trip which became the basis of my book “On the Road”.

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras has been offering music education for more than 60 years. The CYSO consists of five orchestras and a chamber music program, plus it offers classes and international touring. Since I’m not between 7 and 18, I can’t enroll, but I did have an opportunity to photograph the orchestra during a rehearsal before a performance at Symphony Hall. It was inspirational to see so much talent and dedication in people so young, though it did cause me to wonder: Don’t kids spend their teen years perfecting their Frisbee skills anymore?

Photo of the Day: GAR Rotunda

The Chicago Cultural Center (previously the main branch of the Chicago Public Library) houses two eye-popping domes.  This one is the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Rotunda, and the other was designed by Louis Tiffany.  This room is a memorial to the Union soldiers who gave their lives in the Civil War; it’s one of the most beautiful and peaceful rooms in Chicago.

 

Photo of the Day: Midway Plaisance in Hyde Park

The Midway Plaisance is a mile-long green belt bisecting the University of Chicago campus. This area was adjacent to the World’s Colombian Exposition of 1893–if you read “Devil in the White City” you know all about this area. The original Ferris Wheel might have been located exactly where this photo was taken.  Today, this is the world’s best place for people watching of Nobel Prize winners. Hyde Park is the part of Chicago where I live as well as my friend Barack Obama.

 

Photo of the Day: Special Effects

This is a test photo for a client, they needed something different and creative. The end product would be a print in a hotel.  So many possibilities with Photoshop–maybe I got a little carried away, but it was fun.

 

Photo of the Day: Crown Fountain

Crown Fountain is a fun place to hang out. Where else can you be drenched by a powerful stream of water bursting from a giant pair of video lips while admiring the stunning architecture along south Michigan Avenue? These teens weren’t admiring the historic architecture, they were just chillin (literally) on a hot summer day.  Now we know where all the students were during the recent public school strike.

 

Photo of the Day: Wicker Park

Wicker Park on the northwest side is one Chicago’s most colorful neighborhoods.  Teeming with artists, students, hipsters, hippies, and members of the 47% that Romney says are sponging off the government, the area surrounding Six Corners (Damen/Milwaukee/North) has more tattoos per capita than anyplace in the known world.  Funky shops, funky restaurants, funky bars, and funky bookstores–this area can only be described as funky.