More Jake Ashey

Jake Ashey

Introducing Jake Ashey, one half of Chicago musical comedy duo Jake and Eric...More to come!

guess who?

Otis Clay

Otis Clay

Otis Clay, one of Chicago's own. Hailing from the Westside, He truly is one of the few remaining Soul Singers...
This was a great show!

Gab's Work with the Chicago Wisdom Project

This is a shot from my day with Gab and her students from the Chicago Wisdom Project Afterschool Program. Immediately after these were taken, we drove straight to Atlanta to care for my dad, and to enjoy family for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This was a lively group of Southside youth, who "dared" experiment with life development courses after school. These were very fun images to capture, however...These images don't allow you to see and hear the blatant contrast to our experiences in Chicago's Northside and in Evanston. Their spirits were strong...however, I left feeling that not enough people in thier lives encourage them to, as Gab says "...use YOUR power for GOOD...!" If you have a program for youth development, introduce it to our schools...There is money for you to do this, and it's sorely needed...

Chicago Theater District

 

 

Kebbi Williams

Kebbi Williams

I've had the privilege of photographically following Kebbi for most of his life. And I must say, on my last visit with him he's looking rather...bohemian. Now don't get me wrong, this is in no way an insult. First of all I love Him like my own brother. Second, 32 years buys you a little leverage in the ways you can speak about a person. And lastly, Kebbi is one of the most brilliant examples of being comfortable in the skin one is in... Musically it's interesting how the emotions of Life find their way into compositions. Visually it's interesting how those same emotions come through in our appearances. We all do it...deliberately un-kept afro when you're feeling a little rebellious, low cut fade when you're feeling dapper and in need of a cleaner look. We allow our appearance to both reveal and to mask certain elements of our lives. It's sometimes saddening how big a role our appearance plays in this world where so much can be done to cheat...I have no idea why I'm talking about this.

Introducing...YW SIMONE...

So it's been a while since i explored my affinity for fashion photography...a few months at least. So I now introduce YW Simone. These images were taken in Northwestern University's Englehart Hall. It just goes to show that with a little imagination, the world is a photographer's playground. Being the completely self taught photographer that i am, i pride myself in pulling my shoots together on a shoestring budget. No fancy studio rental, no thousand dollar lighting equipment, no hundred dollar muslim backdrops on my set. Now while i'm totally comfortable working with those kinda toys, i have the most fun when i keep it simple and rife with ingenuity. Just give me some music, a couple of inexpensive lighting aids from HomeDepot to supplement my strobes, and a fearless model, willing to trust my judgement, and we can make it happen. All comments welcomed and appreciated. More to come...afterall, you gotta see the shots from the moldy Parking Deck...

ROADSIDE DINER

words

by NAGUELYALTI WARREN

Photography

by GREG PONDER

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At night he orders Breakfast.

Wants his eggs sunny-side up.

The waitress doesn't understand.

Brings them over easy. He sighs.

She cracks gum asking is everything ok?

Takes the eggs away, slow rolling her eyes.

Ten silver dollar pancakes on his plate.

He eats. He waits. She returns: hip holding her hand.

Cook say we ain't got them kina eggs.

North to Kenosha

I enjoyed my trip on the METRA. Traveling by railroad does carry a very real sense of "city-life" from an earlier period. People sitting silently, for the most part. They wear their lives on their faces. Their postures speak of the burdens they bear, or not. There's this feeling of "we're all in this together"...but we're really not.

I enjoyed my trip on the METRA This day. Sometimes I feel more connected with the world.

The KID in Me

This may be the very reason I'm sick now, but I've created this habit of taking my camera and tripod out on some of Chicago's coldest nights just to see what I come up with. Many nights, I feel scatterbrained-with no real focus. I'm at the whim of my environment. I'm left hoping to be inspired by something I see...something I appreciate on some level. Well this night, my attention was turned once again to the phenomenon of SNOW. Since moving to Chicago, I've had the opportunity to experience snow for the first time. Part of me can't help but to think what life would have been like to have grown up as a kid here. Don't get me wrong, I grew up in a great neighborhood. There must have been at least 11 kids that would all come out to play. But we never had snow like this. I went sledding with my daughter and wife the other day...HAD A BLAST! I took them out to an empty parking lot to do doughnuts in our jeep!! I just knew that would be loads of fun, until i looked back for Zora's high-five and approving smiles-only to be met with a little girl crouched in the corner of her seat crying, "Daddy, Stop!" I looked to my wife for reassurance that I wasn't trippin' when she let me know, "maybe you should drop us off, then come back and have my "man-moment". Oh well...maybe I was trippin'. But hey what can I say, The snow brings out the kid in me.

My next Location Shoot...

I love this parking deck ... it's above ground and heated. So as long as outside temps are below freezing, it naturally fogs half of the lowest level!! I'm thinking of experimenting with some glamour type stuff ... I'll be sure to post what I come up with.

Chicago way of "LIFE"

It's interesting how new places provide new metaphors for life. "...don't get caught sleepin'" has been loosely injected into conversations in order to tell someone to "wake up, pay attention, get in the game" or else, suffer some debilitating, totally avoidable, waste-of-time, set back.

Here in Chicago there are emergency snow routes, scheduled snow clearing times, no parking here, 20 min. parking there, No parking here before 7a.m. or after 8a.m., and so on. So many signs, that singularly, are very clear in their direction, but the sheer number and placement of these signs truly requires you to stay on your P's and Q's when deciding to park your car. The enforcers act quickly. Ticketing your car without a trace. Some drive old post office jeeps (you know with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car), hanging out the window, catching folks sleeping with their awful pieces of paper.

The worst of the enforcers is THE SNOW PLOW...It's a big, intimidating monster truck of a vehicle, with a shovel way out front, and lights everywhere. These trucks drive so damn fast it's scary! They figure that since they're making the streets better for the rest of us, it gives them license to drive like maniacs!! I'll admit these trucks are very good at what they do. They quickly and unwaveringly move up and down the streets throwing the slippery/snowy mess off to the right and dropping the salty mix behind ... They fear no legal recourse. Pedestrians, cyclers, babies in strollers, dogs ... beware. You'll be standing there wet and salty faced. Anyway, back to the car...This car probably was parked here for two days straight. I know that the Snow Plow operators got as close as they could to this car. Sealing it in an ice tomb. But just imagine walking outside, late for work and this is the scene. You probably aren't dressed for the then necessary task of shoveling out your vehicle.

But this is life ... have no pity for the vehicle owner!! DON"T GET CAUGHT SLEEPING!! Do what it is you're supposed to do, everyday...Not according to local laws and jurisdictions, but according to your own internal motivators. Life moves on...it doesn't slow down when you get tired. You will get bogged down if you don't hustle. Please heed my words while joining me on my quest to not get caught sleepin' in 2009!

And again

The Photographer's Inevitable Self-Portrait

"That Dude"

We fellas have -"our dudes", "our homies", "family", "our aces".
...all monikers for "that cat" that has been through many years of stickin' in there with you. It takes alot (...and then it doesn't) to build and maintain these kinds of relationships... as we fellas tend not to keep "folks" too close. In fact, these relationships tend to form earlier in life. Times before we build up walls or put on costumes. Times when we find it easier to trust. I feel lucky in a lot of ways..."this DUDE" has been "my Brother" for more than 30 years now. That's a long time to get to know someone...I appreciate this guy a lot...

Kebbi Williams
Tenor Sax
Somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia