Well, again – probably one of the most interesting people I’ve met this year is Theaster Gates. Art in America magazine requested to use an image I had from a previous shoot with him for their interview that covered his work and process, which I’d recommend you check out.

One of my favorite images from the past year will be in the upcoming issue of Romka Magazine – a photo magazine out of Germany that celebrates personal work. The magazine is a collection of work by students, hobbyists, amateurs and a few professionals as well, but your job doesn’t matter to the publisher – just the pictures. I go through fits and spurts photographing my own life (I struggle to find the magic in the coffee shop I sit in so often, even though I know it’s there) but ultimately these end up being some of the most important images to me. I think living in the suburbs is pretty funny, lovely, confusing and terrible all at once…sorta like this new Rihanna album I’m currently sampling. This picture is about something along those lines. It was just taken at a backyard BBQ at a friend’s house and it teeters on bizarre just enough to make it work for me.

Also, it happens to be the only place in the U.S. you can check out the print version of this magazine is at ? Quimby’s Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL – Take that NYC!

I still think a well designed newspaper page is just a beautiful thing. This actually ran in color (story here), but I think I like this just as much. I’ve been thinking about b/w again these days…it’s been almost 8 years since I really shot it.

This summer I got the chance to spend some time in the Wilco loft photographing Jeff Tweedy for Nylon Guys. He was a great guy and let us try a few different things but ultimately the best location ended up being a little corner where they actually lay down their tracks. We talked about touring, kids playing video games and my favorite place in the world – New Zealand. Also, this has nothing to do with the shoot, but man I love this clip where he says “I think John Bon Jovi ruined music.”

This was probably one of my favorite assignments yet, probably due in part to the fact that while I’ve always been a casual listener of Wilco, for some reason the album “A Ghost is Born” became part of my spring soundtrack this year and one of my favorite new older albums (this before the shoot).

One recent assignment that I enjoyed was getting to meet and photograph Chicago artist Theaster Gates. To call him an artist is possibly a bit limiting when describing his work. Check out the story about him and his ladder, and check out his site to learn a bit more about him.

Just as I had gotten back from California last month, I awoke on a Tuesday morning to find assignment e-mail requests from two London based publications. Even better was that these were both publications that I really like and respect. The funny thing about the Monocle assignment was that they had me going into the offices of the Chicago Tribune, where I saw the walls plastered with photographs by folks I know. I was assigned to photograph all around media man (columnist, author, radio personality) Rick Kogan, who curiously enough I had seen speak with former Tribune photographer Charles Osgood some years ago when I was a student. Together they put out books based on their Tribune Sunday Magazine column “Sidewalks.” Rick is a great guy, and pretty much the embodiment of Chicago and Chicago culture. Check the July/August issue of Monocle if you want to see the images (part of “The Voice of the People” installment). If you haven’t checked out Monocle magazine before for any reason I’d recommend it – it’s one of my favorites – small print format like Foreign Affairs, it’s really dense with tons of information but so much of it good and interesting.

Alright – and so this image is an outtake … but it’s one of my favorites from the shoot.

Last month I spent some time in the Groupon Chicago offices making some pictures for the Guardian’s Weekend Magazine. While I had to make a lot of pictures in a short amount of time (especially of Mr. Mason) I think the editors and designers at the Guardian did a great job of making the piece come to life. Wouldn’t it be nice if every story looked this nice on paper? I could go on about Groupon here since the company seems to be the hot topic of the moment here, but I’ll just say that visiting their offices, you could feel a buzz. Sometimes you visit a corporate HQ and leave happy you don’t work there, but at the Groupon offices…that wasn’t the vibe. More images from the shoot will be on my website shortly.

A few weeks ago I made a tour through the different homes of Uptown, Chicago’s most diverse neighborhood, for TimeOut’s Uptown Story special issue. Because the opportunity for good Ethiopian doesn’t arise that often I made sure to stop at Demera after a day of shooting.

Towards the end of October I spent some time up in Greenville, Michigan photographing the new solar materials plant at United Solar Ovonic, but also took a look at the marks the industrial past in the town. Swedish manufacturing giant Electrolux closed the doors to their factory some years ago, moving operations to Mexico. Meijer, the town’s home and a source of pride has moved from their original location near downtown to one on the outskirts of town near the strip malls. Green tech is looking to spur growth in the town but it’s been a bit slow going. The residents I met were very hopeful and it was pretty cool to see the local school admins and students so enthused about their new solar panel roofs. Hoping that things pick up for the town. The story is here. View the slideshow here.

On another note I was happy to photograph for another one of Timothy Aeppel’s pieces. His economic reporting is some of the most well done (in my opinion) and the stories he chases are usually interesting little cross-sections of a larger theme that this country is dealing with.

I had brief portrait shoot down near Peoria, Ill. last month photographing Vincent Staub, a former employee of Proctor Hospital for the AARP Bulletin. At the hospital he worked as lab technician while balancing Army Reservist duties. He ended up being terminated, wrongfully he argues, and is now taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has since rebounded and found more work but it takes a toll on him and his family with his commute being a large chunk of his day at over three hours round trip. I’m not a writer persay and I won’t do the story justice. You can read the article here.

I wish Mr. Staub the best of luck in his battle as he is making a personal sacrifice to try and change the law to something he sees as more just. It’s really interesting to meet people involved in stories like these and to hear about things on the ground level before they potentially turn into something that sets a precedent.

The assignment was photographed mostly digitally for deadline but I did fire off a few duplicate frames off on my film camera to vary the formats. This is an outtake.