I spent the better portion of the last two weeks working on a project for my capstone class here in graduate school in which we conceive of and then proceed to shoot a long form magazine piece. This class is pretty intimidating going into, knowing the history behind some of the projects done in the class, but if you can get past that, it’s actually a very freeing class. I made a broad, somewhat interpretive piece dealing with the diversity of faith in the Chicago suburbs, and while I’m still editing looking through all the frames and scanning contact sheets, this image was one of my favorites and was made on the first day of my shooting.

It was made at St. Procopius Abbey, a Catholic monastery in Lisle, IL. The Abbot spoke to me about how it’s important to live a life of moderation and to be in touch with the natural world. They have about as good a retreat you can get in the Chicago burbs. Here is where the monks walk.