Day in the Park

I went out the Fox Valley Special Recreation Associations Day in the park yesterday to have some fun. The park was filled with kids from camps all over the Fox Valley Region which was really cool, unlike the temperature which felt like 100 degrees plus humidity. One of those days you walk outside and start sweating. Oh well, any day outside is a day I'm not in the office and thats perfectly fine with me.


My answer to the heat was to hang out by the dunk tank and get splashed whenever the dunkee was dropped.
They had some of the coolest blowup bouncy things I have ever seen. This one had basketball in it while others were full obstacle courses and mini theme parks!

Oswego Prairie

This was a story we did on the Oswego Prairie United Methodist Church closing its doors after over 150 years of service.
What was once a booming church in a farming community has suffered with the shift away from small farms and the types of services people attend. Still pretty traditional in its approach to church, it is a place where the entire congregation knows each other, mainly because there are only 10 official members there.





The church is being taken over by another church whose congregation is booming. So much so that they have added services and outgrown their sanctuary and hold Sunday service in a gymnasium.
No immidiate plans are in effect as to the fate of Oswego Prairie's building but promises have been made not to tear down the structure that dates back to the early 1900's.

Hunters of Houses

After months of saying we were looking for a house, Jordan and I went on our first official house hunt last Sunday. It was both exciting and disheartening seeing the homes that were in our entry level budget.
Here's a few I grabbed between shooting flooded basements, rotten walls and caved in ceilings...


As a camera is never far from my hand, pen and paper (usually with some sort of list on it) are never far from Jordan.
"Would you make fun of me if I make a house hunting binder?" she asked the night before we left.
Of course I did, but having never stopped her before, out the door she walked; binder, notebook and a printout of each scheduled visit in hand.
A few foreclosures were thrown into our homes tour of the western suburbs of which I have mixed feelings.
We are working on a story focusing on foreclosures now at the paper (really excited to share some photos soon) and it has opened my eyes to just how easily this could happen to anyone, but that is all for another post.
Basically this little scribble is what brought me pause and made me wonder about the families that wandered these halls a few short months ago.

And a new profile pic to boot...

Striking affects

With most of the construction workers in Northern Illinois on strike, a lot of the big construction projects have been left untouched. Roads lay half finished and schools most likely will not be done in time for school. I was sent out west the other day to shoot one of these roads that was in the literally split in two when I saw this fun little feature...
I continue to notice the ever present power lines that seem to just go unnoticed on a daily basis. I started a little side project as mentioned HERE and thought I would add to it while out shooting the construction.

Hot Hot Heat

Last week felt like the first real week of summer up in these parts with temps hanging in the mid 90's all week. When I was asked to go shoot a feature at a new water fountain downtown Aurora I was only disappointed because I had forgotten my swimsuit and water gear.

Decisions, Decisions

ASCO

A few more frames from the ASCO conference a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Cancer Conference

A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity be part of the team that covered the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) annual meeting at McCormick place in Chicago put together by my friend Todd Buchanan.
We were tasked with a shot list that seemed to go on forever and included everything from portraits to meeting coverage to general event coverage.

These are just a few of my favorites. For more check out ASCO's website HERE.



Covering the conference was a blast, but the presenters may as well have been speaking in Chinese-- I didn't understand a word they were saying. Presentations described cutting edge cancer research from doctors around the world. To say I was in a little over my head would be an understatement.




The best part was getting a chance to talk to these people for a little while and to see them take off the super smart doctor hat and just be like us normal folk.

Blood drop

The Fox Valley Red Cross attempted to organize the world's largest human blood drop the other day. They had over two hundred people show up to stand in the shape of a drop of blood.


I made it a point not to shoot the drop itself knowing that was the whole reason the Red Cross wanted us there. They had another photographer on hand for that purpose thank god. After returning to the office to drop theses two photos the editor came into the lab, "So..... you didn't shoot the drop did you?"
Luckily the photo editor was behind me all the way and convinced him we didn't need to be so literal.

Signage

A few signs spotted during my daily excursions around town...



This was on the door of what used to be a really cool photo shop in downtown Aurora.

A walk in the park

Happy Birthday America

America's 234 birthday is also the 400th post to this blog. Whooo hooo! Thanks for looking!

City Light

A few city views from a freelance gig I had a few weeks ago.... more to come on that later.




Another addition to the photographers project...

Sportraits

Spring sports have come to an end so here goes another round of high school rock stars.

Both of these kids hit around .500 on the season which baffles my mind. Tarah is a catcher so we had some good times swapping war stories and battle scars. She is headed to Oklahoma State with an almost guaranteed starting varsity spot.

See those records on the wall behind Jordan? Ya, he broke nearly all of them. I borrowed a ring light for this one and it was my first time ever playing with one.
The setup is two speed lights on each side of him with the ring light front and center. Thoughts?


Congrats to both of you guys and best of luck!