Recently had the opportunity to shadow and photograph one of my favorite radio personality’s, Felicia Middlebrooks of WBBM News Radio 780. For a news junkie like myself this photo shoot was a big deal, she’s by far the best radio voice in Chicago Radio, and also one of the sweetest and nicest people in Chicago.
Over the weekend I made my return to the Newspaper, I covered a carnival, a football game, and a wave of storms that almost ruined the weekend of events I was hired to cover. No joke man, I miss working the local news beat. For some reason I keep hoping things are going to return back to what was normal, but I know that is never going to happen again. They keep telling me social media has changed the way we value our local newspapers, but after walking around town with my camera’s on my shoulders, running into colleagues I have not seen in person for a long time, running into politicians who all of sudden remember my name (because it’s an election year), seeing the excitement from young families when I tell them I got a shot of their family enjoying the day, and last but not least getting page “1” in print. This weekend I got a dose of reality, people still enjoy their local newspaper, and the social media excuse that is being pushed is a partial myth, partially true, and partially bulls__t.
For now on I’m going to pocket my feelings about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. What happened, happened, even if I think both wars were pointless, and (my last feeling) bullshit. For now on I’m just going to let my camera tell the feelings of what these wars have done to good people, good families, and good communities. Plus the Gold Star families, and Veterans deserve better. Now is the time for all of those yellow bumper sticker ribbons that said “Support the Troops.”
Had an exciting week last week. Went home, and got to work on some breaking news for the paper. It was a typical every five year great flood for the Chicagoland area, but this flood took over the entire Northern Illinois area. In most news cycles this would have been a national story, but the Boston bombing’s, West Texas explosion, and whatever else happen last week, happened so it was just a local story.
Thanks to the storms all of my Press Photography Network jobs got cancelled, so I decided to go out and document some storms for myself. It turned out to be a long day, because the mighty DuPage River could not be contained. Downtown Naperville had some issues, motorist had their usual issues, by thinking they can drive their automobile in massive puddles that turned out to be three feet deep, and everyone who lives along the river were once again shocked that their finished basements were destroyed.
Even though I don’t work for the paper that much anymore, I’ve never let go of my relationships with my old buddies. The weather shots for myself, turned out to be for the paper, and that felt good, and it felt even better to get the front page once again. I know there is a place for me in photojournalism, I just need to find that place that will pay me enough to take care of my family.
What a night, my first real hardcore news story I had full media access to. In this picture he was still a State Senator, he had just been elected that night into the US Senate, and his family, was still a young family.
What’s crazy about this picture and the entire take, I shot this entire event with film, Kodak Tri-x 400, and developed it with acufine developer. The anxiety of wanting and waiting to see these photos were too much for me, that’s when I realized I needed to stop being so damn old school, and go get a digital camera asap, because the photojournalism bug had bitten me that night, and I had started the rest of my life.
In closing, the most memorable part about this night for me, is not the picture(s), not the personal access to the future 44th President of the United States, and not the learning experience I gained that night which started the path I’m on today. It was the energy of the night, as if we all knew we were here first for something special. Everyone in that room had a feeling President Bush was going to win, but unlike any other election night I will eventually cover, the presidential race did not matter, because we all knew we were going to be celebrating another victory for Obama four years later. And I am dead fucking serious about that. We all knew, and we were all right. What a night.
Once upon a time this was one of my prized photos while showing off my website to local newspaper editors (when they existed) when searching for work. Six years later I’ve kind of forgot about this photo.
Guider Photo 