Competing with Children

With gas prices up over $4.30 where I live, I've been out on my bicycle a lot. It's a great way to meet people and stay connected to the world. While riding through the inner city, I've noticed a near phenomenon of really tiny motorcycles ridden by big people. I mean, these bikes are made to fit a 6 year old.

I met this young dude on the West Side fixing his chain in the middle of the road! Traffic swooshing by, he drew a small crowd of onlookers (likely because he was in the middle of the street) who resisted the temptation to lend a hand. Instead we stared. After he got the chain on, I offered to race him down the street on my bike. He agreed and I readied myself. Of course I had to turn my bike around because he was going to race against traffic and I guess, so was I. And with sneakers kicked back and knees barely off the pavement he smoked me. I estimated (on my cycle computer) that he was going 28mph before stopping his house to get something to get some candy.

FURminate me.

Hail the FURminator! Yes. That's fur eliminator. It gently combs away the animals allergen laden undercoat leaving the shiny, healthy top coat unharmed. How does it do it? Ask my assistant Alan.

New Web Site next week.

Check back no later than October 17 to see my whole new thang!
It's vintage, it's modern, like a fedora worn with a silver shirt.

These fortunes are whack.

Anthony Munoz, an advertising art director and newly minted proud father to son Cedar, here in China (town) for a occasional Chicago Reader feature called What Are You Wearing? (WAYW?) When I first got an assignment 3 years ago to shoot for this section, I was not entirely interested. Fashion was not my thing. Now after having done a few dozen WAYW? assignments thus far, street fashion has proven to be a pretty stimulating creative launching point for a lot of pictures I absolutely love.

Collaboraction does Siddhartha

My friends at Collaboraction theater company are again attempting to stage a difficult production in a challenging environment, replete with too many liquored-up folks and too few electrical outlets. On October 3, they will be launching a 2 week production of the story of
Siddhartha at a very dope new club called Lumen in Chicago. I shot a press photo last night on the banks of the quite polluted, yet beautiful Chicago River. Jumping fish and scurrying rabbits added to the sensation that we were no longer in Kansas. The doctor says the eye irritation should subside soon.

The Chicago Reader: A fine Georgia peach.

By the end of this month, the Chicago Reader will no longer be the ol' Reader.
It will be stewarded from south of the Mason Dixon line in Atlanta, and take on a new look and feel. But not so fast! Before most of them depart holding pink, the editorial and art staff have knocked another beautiful issue out of the the park beside their offices at 11 E. Illinois St.

Since 1994 I've been fortunate to have worked with the amazingly flexible art and editorial staff. I'm fortunate because they always let me shoot how I wanted, printed it, and so I grew as a photographer.













For the September 14 fashion issue, I photographed 12 amazing people who dressed-up in other peoples clothes and played with me a while on set. The issue looks quite handsome, so do pick one up and save it in an archival Ziploc bag to show your grand kids what people looked like in the 20 ten's.

Destructor of Soil visits The Dark Slide

My good friend Jason left his young family in The City of Lights to come to Chicago Saturday night to catch The Black Angels play at Schubas Tavern. A very heavy show with tons of thumping drums.
We got up early Sunday morning to go take pictures for our blog pages in my new neighborhood of Little Village.

View from my front balcony overlooking my neighborhood.

Would someone buy the building behind me and do something with it?

"/Everything is there when you're living in the city/"

Jay gets gross.

The Museum of objects left on the Sidewalk

We all know someone like this.