» tears

Wall St. Journal: Green Jobs

Peter — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:41:50 +0000

Last week I went down to Joliet Jr. College to witness some classes where IBEW (electrical workers union) members are getting training for green jobs…though most of the jobs have yet to materialize in the region. The article by Sudeep Reddy spells out the issue. Visually, a challenging assignment but that’s just fine with me. Here’s an outtake where students are learning to work with variable frequency drives, necessary to balance the wind turbine’s inconsistent power output and transform it into a consistent flow that matches with what our standardized electrical grid utilizes.

Bowman’s for TimeOut Chicago

Peter — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:13:22 +0000

Last month I got a proposal for an interesting story from TimeOut. In October, Rachel Gilliam, a bartender at Bowman’s in Lincoln Square was the victim of a hit and run. The story, which was featured in their bars issue, focused on the space of Bowman’s and the community whose lives she touched. This was a challenging story to illustrate as it was effectively about a person who is not here anymore, but I basically went in with the mindset of photographing what Rachel left behind (in her life related to Bowman’s). They let me shoot it on medium format film, which is always really a treat for any assignment work. The article is written online here by Kari Lydersen who did a really nice job I thought.

Positive Mothering for HIV+ Magazine

Peter — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:02:14 +0000

I was recently welcomed into Sonja Ortman’s home for a shoot where the story focused on between being a mom caring for a normal, energetic kid and having to take care of yourself when you are living with HIV. Due to advancements in HIV drugs she was able to successfully birth an uninfected son in 2004. It’s a pretty amazing thing and she was a very warm and gracious woman to photograph. This was one of those assignments where you walk away feeling like you can at least understand the world a little bit more, if nothing else. I’m gracious for that type of work and wish her the best. I hope readers can appreciate the guts it takes for someone to talk so openly about this subject. Hopefully by her discussing it, she can be motivation and inspiration for those in similar situations. The story is online here.

Race Car Jewelry for the National (Abu Dhabi)

Peter — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:01:17 +0000

At the end of Jan. I hiked up to small town Wisconsin to catch up with Mary Kaczor, a jet setting former F-1 racer turned jeweler/entrepreneur. This assignment was for the National, the Abu Dhabi based newspaper’s motoring section. Essentially she takes the parts from cars that have some sort of significance (won a specific race etc) and makes wearable jewelry out of it. Of course this is a niche market but she’s definitely in the right crowd. She had just gotten back from London when I met her and who knows where she was off to next. All I know was that I really wanted to move to Monaco, at least for a short while, after our conversation.

Save this restaurant

Peter — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:28:45 +0000

I recently had a few shoots for TimeOut Chicago’s series highlighting unique and valuable Chicago eateries that are struggling in the nonsense economy we have. I was also exposed to some cool new places that I might just have to go check out on my own time. This is an outtake of Bobby Syed, owner of Bhabi’s Kitchen in Roger’s Park. This frame didn’t make it, but I liked it nonetheless. Bhabi was a very personable guy with some interesting stories and if you go in to have a bite there’s a good chance you’ll leave having had a personal connection with the owner. If you’re nearby you should check it out.

Orphans from Haiti for Grazia U.K.

Peter — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:06:56 +0000

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.

MyMidwest/Soul of Athens

Peter — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:39:31 +0000

MyMidwest, the Midwest Airlines flight magazine recently wrote up a little piece about last year’s Soul of Athens project where I had some portraits included in a project called “Rural Progressives.” Jenn Poggi, formerly of U.S. News and World Report and now working in the White House photo department helped me produce the online piece. Other photographers in the MyMidwest article were Jenna Schoenefeld, Drew Angerer, Joel Prince, Andrew List and Rachel O’Hara. I can’t wait to see what Soul of Athens brings this year from people still hanging out in that unique little town.