I was recently at work on a pretty interesting project for Chicago artist and community builder Theaster Gates. He asked me to document the process of some of his friends who were in from Japan creating a new body of ceramics for him, based on traditional soul food wares. To be honest there is so much going on in Gates’ studio(s) that it was hard for me to keep track of everything going on, but I can tell you that he and his team are going full bore every day in creating new work in a few different fields that deal with sculpture, ceramics and urban renewal. I met a lot of great people all working for him and am pretty in awe of all that is getting done. Aside from that, in the studio on Kouichi’s (left) last day, he and fellow potters initiated a Japanese armwrestling tournament that I just happened to be around for. Tournament victory went to Titus (left, in the match).

Christchurch, A Year after the Earthquake on Kickstarter

So, I’m trying something new, and this new thing is Kickstarter. Ever since my time living in NZ got me in to photography in 2004 I’ve wanted to go back terribly, but when the earthquakes over the past 18 month began it changed things, and now I feel like I need to go back to tell a story. Take a look at my project and please spread the word if you’re in to the idea. I’d love to make this thing happen, and I’d love to send some people prints from New Zealand in exchange for the help.

I won’t go long on the plea, but this is a big deal to me to see if I can make this happen, so any help, really just putting it out there is totally appreciated.

Work done in conjunction with various forestry and environmental non-profit organizations over the years will be shown in Athens, Ohio on Nov. 10 to celebrate the International Year of the Forest. I’m happy to have work in the show with friends and other great photographers Josh Birnbaum, Pradeep Edussuriya, Jim Korpi and Michael DiBari.

Still catching up on a backlog of work from the summer. I was fortunate enough to have had a few shoots for the New York Times here and here. The first story was about the woman who decides the names of different colors for household paints. This is a job I never even considered existing, but it’s pretty great. I love the things that photography exposes me to.

Last week I spent some time up in Benton Harbor, Michigan photographing for a Monica Davey story for the New York Times. If you’ve ever watched the show Parks n’ Rec, and have seen Rob Lowe come in and try to restructure Pawnee, Indiana and their budgetary problems, Benton Harbor is a sort of real life example of this…only a very different kind of city. In addition to this, and the main point of the article is the fact that the Emergency Financial Manager now has expanded power, effectively stopping other city officials from being able to exercise their power. Really interesting situation, with some residents saying that the city’s finances were such a mess that it needed to happen, and other city officials and residents not happy at the extent at the EFM’s power. Probably better to just read Mrs. Davey’s piece here.

Martin Bandzak, John Vink of Magnum photos and others  have work in a new magazine called Inside Magazine financially supported by Slovakaid and other parties. It looks like it’s free for a hard copy as well (you pay shipping) but it’s 432 pages and hardcover. It looks interesting and each issue explores a topic in depth, meant to be kept and explored further down the road, not tossed in the bin. The first topic covered is, yes, the photojournalists’ favorite topic of poverty. But that is not and never will be (until it is eradicated) over covered.

I got sent over to Pella, Iowa a few weeks ago to photograph a family who had, along with other families in town, sped up their adoption process of a Haitian orphan. Essentially what happened was that the earthquake hit and the Iowa families got worried, wondering if their children slated for adoption were still alive. With the help of people on the ground they located the children, spent time at the Embassy and expedited the process, bringing a total of 5 children to the snowy rolling hills of Iowa.

Recently toured the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill. for the Wall St. Journal doing a story about the bullwhip effect and was happy to see it on today’s front page. Story here and reporter Timothy Aeppel’s interesting piece worth a read. If you’re not a subscriber you can get to it by googling Wall St. Journal bullwhip. Here’s an outtake:

Outtakes from a business shoot. Story here.

Had a few interesting assignments from TimeOut Chicago recently, seems I got put on the controversy beat. I photographed members of a comedy troupe (Chicago’s Best Church of God) staging a mock protest, basically making sure to poke fun at every imaginable denomination. The next was for a volunteers issue, photographing a Planned Parenthood volunteer escort and the weekly protesters who show up outside. These situations are always interesting as people assume I am on one side or another, and both of these assignments found me getting some advice from a random folk or two on either side of things when I’m really just there to document. Not sure you can get more divisive than some of the topics broached here but I love being amongst people who are passionate for any reason and I was entertained and enlightened in a way by each assignment.