One very scary, million dollars

It's almost Halloween and time to scare up some cash. (Yes. I said it.)
Here's some work I shot for the Illinois Lotto to promote their Halloween Millionaire Raffle on sale Oct 1. In addition to these classics, I shot NEW horrific portraits that you can see at gas stations or convenience stores all over Illinois.



Check out the old fashioned movie banner ad on the Lotto site.
Agency: Energy BBDO
Art Direction: Tim Mikus

Anatomy of: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Throughout the month of September I'm blogging about the making of a black and white project I recently shot with Ogilvy Mather, Chicago. The print campaign was for Steppenwolf Theater Company's 35th season entitled Public/Private Self. This is the last update in the series.


Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) is a raucous story about a middle aged New England college professor and his nearly schizophrenic wife who engage in scathing, drunken tirades and physical battery in front of their two young house guests. Eventually their lies and abuses turns on their guests, none-the-less, the party rages on.


Final image


The objective was to create a moment in the mid 60’s, which our two unwitting houseguests are greeted at the door by the inebriated older couple, played by Tracy Letts and Amy Morton. The older couple has been drinking for hours, but embattled for years. The time of day is 1am. Our shoot had to be scheduled in the late morning however.


My pre-pro pencil


I was thrilled to be working with actors Tracy Letts and Amy Morton as my talent. They have established working relationship, most notably from Amy’s performance in Tracy’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, August: Osage County. Needless to say, they bounced off each other like Seinfeld and George.


Amy and Tracy take aim.


I learned that seasoned stage actors are not inclined to be the most natural photography models. Their forte is telling stories with their bodies in time. It's important that they get how their character arrived at this moment: A fair question. I talked to them separately about how I wanted to distill the various themes of the play into the single moment which they'll never perform again.


Me talking to Tracy Letts about the shot.


Location scouting took me across the city to find a Victorian era, wooden porch. I first investigated buildings with phone numbers attached to them; Bed and breakfasts in old Chicago neighborhoods could have worked. It was important that once the doors swung open, we saw plenty of interior space to position a small wet bar in view and none did the trick. With the help of a location scout, we found a private home that was willing to work with us.


Scouting shot of the location


Wardrobe styling was crucial to convey the right era. Our touchstone was the fabulously styled show, Mad Men. When my art director emailed me this wardrobe shot from the show, the hunt was on for a plunging neckline cocktail dress (middle). Not all too common in the early 60’s.


Styling period


The icing on the cake was a white fox stole which became my favorite prop in this story of an overdressed and aging debutante, flirting with her house guests.


La piece de resistance


My technical challenge was to create a lighting strategy to shoot under broad daylight but making it feel dark outside. To accomplish this, there were a lot of lights firing but not all at the same time. The talent was lit with several strobes positioned as if coming from the two sconces beside the door and trailing off into darkness.


Lots of gear to remove in post


Once talent was shot and released. I created the plates that would give us another cue of nighttime but on the house itself. Strobes were directed to strike the siding just how the sconces might at night. The quality and length of shadows needed to replicate how the tungsten lights would look to the eye.


What I like about the final shot is how Amy's character is upstaging her husband. And from him, we understand that it's not for the first time.


Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf opens December 2 at Steppenwolf's downstairs theater.

Directed by Pam MacKinnon

Equipment: Multiple Speedotron packs, Hasselblad H4D, Hasselblad 35-90 zoom,
Crew: Annika Howe, Brynne Rinderknecht, Mark Doddato, Morgan Blaul, Jabari Zuberi
Retoucher: Studio Satellite
Ogilvy Mather: Allie Armstrong AD, Gabe Usadel CD
We ate: Heartland Cafe.



Today's Faceblock

Faceblock. It should be a social media privacy app...but cruelly it's not. Ever since my nights of huffing darkroom chemicals in art school, I've loved what I would call, Faceblock pictures. They're those pictures where the photographer accidentally or intentionally, blocked a person's face by some object, decapitating them at the shoulder and obscuring their identity. Like America's funniest home video shows, I think they're amusing.

This week two of my more intentional Faceblock pictures are being used in the world. One nationally and one locally.


September 26, Washington Post Magazine, cover.
Photo Editor: Evan Jane Kriss


October 1, Fashion Mash-Chicago, poster.
Designer: Malcolm Felder.
Agency: Collaboraction

Anatomy of: Sex With Strangers

Throughout the month of September I’m blogging about the making of a black and white project I recently shot with Ogilvy Mather, Chicago. This print campaign was for Steppenwolf Theater Company's 35th season entitled Public/Private Self. Updates will be posted each Tuesday afternoon in the month.


In the play, Sex with Strangers, a young blogger's telling of his sexual exploits launches a hugely successful book-writing career. When his sex life intersects with that of a 30-something writer who’s career is on the rocks, the younger man shows his new love interest how to get noticed on the internet.


The final image


Using two characters and a laptop, the objective was to create a metaphor that told of a sexual relationship that gets corrupted by the desire for microfame. The picture had to be highly sensual but foreshadow the mistrust that later develops.


This production was the first in my series of photos for Steppenwolf's next season. I was then uncertain of what tone the pictures would take or how I’d work with the seasoned actors, most of whom don't do photo shoots. I felt a little out on a limb actually. My subjects, Sally Murphy and Stephen Louis Grush met me in a third floor bedroom of a bed & breakfast on Chicago’s south side.


An 1870's mansion served as the location.


In the tiny room, the walls were painted deep red, the heavy curtains drawn and a single yellow lamp was lit at the beside. As we talked about what I had planned, I quickly learned that Sally and Stephen were in fact strangers themselves. They’d never met or rehearsed whatsoever. This photo shoot was going to be an ice breaker and be their virgin professional experience together.


The room color was red. Very red.


After make-up, they both undressed on set and changed into the wardrobe we brought. Early on, Sally was wearing pajama pants but asked if I might want her to strip down to her underwear because it would be more realistic. The ice was already beginning to thaw. A few shots later, my stylist found a patterned pajama short and black tank worked best.


I used their reflection in the mirrored door of a hand carved armoire to be the source of their image. Much in the play revolved around ones own perception of self that the furniture's framing was at once beautiful and conceptually right.


Directing them required a different solution than most of my jobs. Their initial discomfort was of course felt in the room, but after a little giggling and joking around, I talked them through how their character’s were to be feeling. Using a slow monotonous voice I guided their hands around each others bodies, and their faces into expressions of pleasure and apprehension. Between takes we all climbed on the bed and looked at the shots on my laptop. It was an unusual place for a creative meeting but was a great way to bond.



A range of expressive positions were tried.


Back on set, I coached them to the point which they became familiar enough to take charge and try positions I had not asked of them. At which point my coaching only encouraged their movements on each other, and told what gestures I wanted repeated. My assistant joked that he had to remove himself from set because he was feeling like a 5th wheel.


The computer screen was shot dark and we had a few ideas how to treat it in post. Originally we considered presenting a naked torso and breasts, suggesting that the computer stripped Sally naked. For this I cast a traveling model from Dallas to shoot some nudes in my studio for later use on that screen, but it was later decided that an ambiguous glowing screen would focus the viewer better.


Not Sally Murphy


My retouching notes


I love the final execution because Sally's character is into it, but doesn't really know what to make of this new person she's becoming. I am especially looking forward to seeing this on stage.


Sex with Strangers opens January 20 at Steppenwolf's upstairs theater.

Written by Laura Eason

Directed by Jessica Thebus

Equipment: Multiple Speedotron packs, Hasselblad H4D, Hasselblad 35-90 zoom,
Crew: Annika Howe, Russell Lord, Mark Doddato, Courtney Rust, Morgan Blaul
Retoucher: Studio Satellite
Ogilvy Mather: Allie Armstrong AD, Gabe Usadel CD
We ate: Potbelly sandwiches and an ice tea bottle was

accidentally broken on the bathroom floor.

Anatomy of: Middletown

Throughout the month of September I’m blogging about the making of a black and white project I recently shot with Ogilvy Mather, Chicago. This print campaign was for Steppenwolf Theater Company's 35th season entitled Public/Private Self. Updates will be posted each Tuesday afternoon in the month.

Middletown (written by Will Eno) is a play about the universe of a small town to which its newest resident has moved to have her first baby. Her hopes of forming tight bonds with the town's people fizzle when she finds that moments of connection are shallow, and strangers remain just that. A central moment comes during a town walking tour when stopped at a simple stone memorial, existential questions of humankind are awoken and wrestled with by tour-goers and the tour guide alike.


Final image

This shot was one of the more ambitious productions in the series as it took place in three U.S. states, on location and in studio, and over a period of weeks. The art direction had the moment take place beneath an exploding starry sky, dwarfing the tour guide played by Alana Arenas.

I live in Chicago which is no small town. Finding quaint, open space within an hour of the city is a tough call. Instead of shooting close to home I chose to find the locations in New England while visiting my family. It was a great solution because New England is rife with open town commons, commemorative memorials and adorable centuries old homes.



While motoring through southern Maine with my fiance, I slammed on the breaks to shoot what would become the town memorial. A cemetery entrance built from ancient granite was the perfect, unadorned and average memorial I needed.


Monument shot in York, Maine shortly after sunset.

A week later, I drove to Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts (with my teenage niece as an assistant) to shoot landscapes and architecture which would later make up the image's location. Maintaining a flexible vision for what I was making, I shot a library of structures and grassy public spaces. Night exposures are long, and tested my 14yr old assistant's patience.


This house appears in the left background of the final image.

With the landscape now shot, I retouched together different versions of a town commons landscape. The details were carefully chosen so to direct the cues to a small town common.


Two composited landscapes we considered for where the hero was to be placed.

Another week later and back in my Chicago studio, the last element I shot was our hero. We chose the landscape with the more dramatic, directional back-lighting and set up a similar lighting scheme.
It was important that her lighting match that of the landscape I'd already created. The floor was blacked so not to reflect, and directional edge lighting, key light fall-off and long shadows would anchor her to the landscape.


Alana shot as a separate plate in my studio

Each shot of Alana changed the tonality of the story so there was much discussion about which expression and body language best served the narrative. I chose this one because her look of wonder was mixed with an ounce of loneliness. She looks not only up towards the night sky but out to the town that surrounds her. Once all the elements were selected, I sent the parts to the retoucher to begin assembly and finishing treatments.


My retouching notes and a hero images switch.

After a last minute image switch, a new name plate was illustrated inspired by historic plaques and an old Jamaican coin.


An image I sourced on Internet used as guide for plaque.


Middletown opens June 16th at Steppenwolf's downstairs theater.

Equipment: Multiple Profoto 7A packs, Hasselblad H4D, Hasselblad 35-90 zoom, Canon 1DS Mark III,
Crew: Jabari Zubari, Annika Howe, Mark Doddato, Sage Reed
Retoucher: Brian York
Ogilvy Mather: Allie Armstrong AD, Gabe Usadel CD
We ate: Italian sandwiches and iced coffee.















Anatomy of: The Hot L Baltimore

Over the next three weeks I’ll be blogging about the making of a black and white project I recently shot with Ogilvy Mather, Chicago. This print campaign was for Steppenwolf Theater Company's 35th season entitled Public/Private Self. Updates will be posted each Tuesday afternoon in September.

The Hot L Baltimore (1973) is a dark comedy about the occupants of a condemned grand hotel who face eviction. The play’s title is taken from the hotel's neon sign with a burned-out letter "E”. The central character of a night clerk who's life is orbited by and ensemble of prostitutes, pimps and runaways, is played by K. Todd Freeman.


Two challenges of this particular shoot were to represent the neglected hotel in which the story happens and create a metaphor for the chaos of the occupants vs the stability of the night clerk. The image was to be use across a wide array of print media.


Final image


I began location scouting on the Internet searching for swanky turn-of-the-century hotels and social clubs, then calling to get cooperation from their PR departments. Hotel Intercontinental was my first choice and the one who graciously hosted our shoot. Once entering this particular room, I fell in love with the verticality of the space but was most taken by the iconic hotel carpeting. It was a room that would translate perfectly in black & white because of it’s high contrast tones throughout. Also its burled walnut wood paneling would take on an old sooty quality in high speed black and white digital capture. We borrowed mismatching furniture from adjacent rooms and carefully “broke” a curtain to give the room sparse, run down feeling.


Empty room plate


After establishing our camera angle (8' high looking out and down) I brought K.Todd to his position. We chatted a while about where he wanted to take his character in the play, and what I had in mind for the photograph. I always find this conversation with professional actors fascinating because until then, I can only guess how they might translate the written script. What's most fun is that I get to become part of developing his persona too. He felt the night clerk was intense, patient and observant. Kind of a dry and serious man.


Subject was shot mostly alone so to focus on his direction.


Our main subject now shot, I focused my attention solely on our three extras to populate the background. Once dressed in 70’s period costumes by my stylist, I set them wandering in big loops across the room. This part of the shoot was something of a dance where the talent weaved and flirted with each other making grand gestures that would look cool when stopped in action. I wanted a lot of motion so the exposures were long to capture the ambient blur. At this point I had very little certainty about where each person might be placed in the final composition nor could I plan on the randomness of their actions, so I shot hundreds of variations.


Motion blur came from 2 carefully placed lights and a longer exposure

When it became time to assemble the image for the retoucher, I sat down with Photoshop, a Wacom tablet and a glass of Scotch.This patient part of the image assembly is where the story's details are told and something I can only do myself. I look at each of the frames and choose the ones that when placed together make the varied moments feel like one.
I was so taken by how these ghostly figures became a suggestion of the past, that I couldn't resist using each character twice. This added to a sense of the passage of time which is in fact integral to the story.


My final mark up notes to the retoucher

The Hot L Baltimore opens March 24th at Steppenwolf's downstairs theater.

Equipment: Multiple Profoto 7A packs, Hasselblad H4D, Hasselblad 35-90 zoom, Phocus 2.5
Crew: Jabari Zubari, Annika Howe, Karen Brody, Nate Smith, Damien Thompson, Heather Brooks
Retoucher: Brian York
Ogilvy Mather: Allie Armstrong AD, Gabe Usadel CD
We ate: Panera bread sandwiches, iced tea