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.
2013
The two loves of my life, my son, and my wife. This is a picture during a very difficult time in our lives together. My photo career was in reboot, we were just about out of money, and our home and living situation was not good. What’s cool about this photo, this was the bottom for us before things turned around, and we were able to grow up together as a family. Rough times suck, but you can’t make it without them, and I’m grateful we went through this together and came out strong together.
This is a long story so stay tuned, the rest of the story will be posted for the relaunch of pressphotographynetwork.com coming this summer.
For those who have followed my work over the years I’m sure some of you recognize the two guys in the frame, on the left is my four year old son Jonas, and on the right is my younger brother Fredrick, and these two are my favorite subject’s to cover in life. My brother has been a huge inspiration to my story telling career, over the years he has battled some real medical issues, and I can’t lie, it has been a frustrating journey watching him deal with his illnesses. Verbalizing my frustration and feelings has never really been my thing, but putting my feelings into my photography has always been my thing.
Growing up in the outside world I kept unintentionally hearing things coming from the mouths of so-called normal functioning people, I’m sure most know the stuff I heard was ignorant and just distasteful. Between the ages of 11 and 14 I thought the only way to deal with those people were to punch them in the face. That didn’t workout to well, school suspensions and detentions suck. (Side note, I kicked a lot of ass) Then once I reached high school, I had pretty much given up on the normal world and surrounded myself with a special group of friends who many considered outcast because they either had a social/learning disability, mental disability, or a physical handicap. Inside that world you only had to deal with honesty, respect, and we watched each other’s back. In college I couldn’t get into a art school fast enough, at Columbia College Chicago, if you were considered normal, you didn’t belong, what a wonderful place for me, because I was one of the most normal people there. After college I tried to join the normal world again, so I got a real job, and that was a disaster. I just couldn’t handle the accepted stupidity in the so-called normal society. Basically, I took myself out of most social scenes unless I had a photo job.
Today, I have a four-year-old boy who is universally loved by everyone he touches, and Jonas loves the outside world right back. Yes I know he’s four years old, but that is why he’s even more amazing to me. My brother can be sensitive to excitement that is around him; he can sometimes struggle with understanding with what is going on and what he is feeling. People from the outside world can mistake his struggles for something they struggle to understand, so they fear him, and that can cause friction.
While house sitting for my mom this weekend I witness my son help his uncle manage those frustrations. I tried to explain to him, “You can’t surprise uncle Fredrick when you play with him” he kind of listen to me. Every time my son ran into the room to play with his uncle, he made sure to explain to him what he was about to do even if his uncle disagreed, but uncle Fredrick obliged and trusted my son. Currently my brother’s health has him in the bed for a near 24 hours a day, I’m sure he’s in need of some fun, because even though he is disabled he is still a 23 year old human.
On Friday night while prepping dinner, I heard a ton of loud noises banging against the wall, I ran into the room to see what my son was doing to his uncle. Jonas was jumping on my brother’s bed chanting the little monkeys jumping on the bed nursery rhyme, and even though my brother can no longer stand he was doing his best bounce on the bed and jump with his nephew. This might be the best moment I’ve shot during my time documenting this journey in my life. God has blessed me with a wonderful son, and brother who are both showing me I should and can live in this world, and be OK.
Just updating, some of my June work I did with Press Photography Network. 
Recently I had the opportunity to document German Chef Lèa Linster. Chef Linster is a gold medal winner of the 1989 Bocuse d’Or, the highest honor for chefs; she is the first and only woman chef to win this award. She brought her Sous-Chef Korbinian Wolf, and they did a wonderful job bringing a taste of Luxembourg to Chicago.
The Menu:
Lobster cocktail with mango
Carrot blood orange soup
Salmon confit served on a bed of celery
Filet mignon of veal
Crème brulèe, with pineapple and basil ice cream
Shockingly, this was my first time ever documenting a woman chef, and I must say there are some differences. The first difference I notice, she kept a very quiet kitchen, now I’ve been told that’s the way it’s supposed to be in most kitchens. Second difference, she had an assembly line like order for her cooks. Everyone had a zone in her kitchen and it worked. It was good experience working with her, and she couldn’t have been nicer to camera, and that filet mignon of veal, may have been one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted.
Just working on my portfolio for my new website. Need to gage how this stuff looks online. Let me know what you think.
Guider Photo 