Tag Archives: black and white

A two week stay in Chicago was the perfect reason to FINALLY go back to visit my alma mater. I haven’t spent any real time there since…well, since I was paying to be there. Seeing campus in its deserted state let me take all the time I wanted. And made me remember the first time I fell in love with the place as a senior in high school.

 

Arnie’s Arch. Ok, it’s technically the Weber Arch.

 

My First Dorm: North Mid Quads

 

My Second, Third, and Fourth Dorm: “The Plex”

 

So many memories…

 

It is what you think it is. Thank God for this place.

 

The Black House Porch

 

In four years, I set foot in Deering Meadow once. But I walked by it at least 4 times per day.

 

The Library

 

Tech: In the pantheon of uninviting structures, Northwestern’s main engineering building manages to barely edge out the Death Star

 

Tech Lobby: this is about as inviting as it gets. And it hasn’t changed in 20 years.

 

Shakespeare Garden. Probably one of the least well-known but most beautiful gems on campus. I couldn’t remember how to get there and had to look it up on a map.

 

I spent more time here than anywhere else in college. I worked here all four years, and in my senior year I clocked 30-40 hours per week. Many of the people I’m now closest to were also 4-year Norris-ites. This is where I moved tables and chairs for money, where I was a Center Manager (which basically meant I wore a tie and carried around about 30 keys to unlock every door in the building), where I met celebrities, where I did never-ending problem sets, where I had an office in the basement, opened my grad school acceptance letters (and cried with my mother on the phone as I shared the news), pulled finals week and Dance Marathon all-nighters, and saw the OJ verdict. When I have fond memories about my college years, its a pretty safe bet that Norris is at the heart of them.

 

I think I made it to Chicago maybe twice in all of college. Great city. But I didn’t find out until I’d already left.

  • Ama

    Awesome photos. NU has changed a lot but is still the same. A fellow NU Alum.

  • Angelique

    These photos are gorgeous! Makes me want to go back myself and chronicle the places I frequented, some that would clearly overlap yours. :)

  • Maeyen

    Beautiful!

  • Lesley Grossblatt

    Northwestern . . . where the cool kids went. :) Great photos.

    I miss Chi-town. My favorite memories of the UofC were the days I skipped class to take the 6-Jeffery bus downtown to hang out at the Art Institute all day long.

Over the years, its gotten more difficult to keep up with friends.  But two things that can always bridge that gap are children and photography.  Johanne and Carlos brought the twins up to San Francisco, and we all met under the SF fog and the Golden Gate.  We rolled around in the grass for awhile, took some pics, and, even in such a beautiful setting, guess what the big hit was?  Yep.  A plastic footstool.  Thanks Johanne for letting me goof around with your kids for an afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to visiting Idaho for the first time, if anyone had ever told me that I would love it there…year round…I would have called them nuts.  I’ve been visiting Idaho for a few years now and it keeps getting better.  We just returned from a few days in Boise and McCall and I’m already looking forward to going back!  It doesn’t hurt that I experienced a few photographic firsts on this trip: my first bald eagle, my first hummingbird, and my first overnight shoot.  But as you’ll see, Oliver (Serene’s nephew), stole the show. Many thanks to Serene’s family for planning such a great trip and inviting me to join them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the years I’ve found that, when it comes to my photography, personal projects keep me most excited about shooting.  I can’t thank Bryan enough for asking me to join him on this recent shoot.  Hidad, our gracious subject on a recent Sunday afternoon, was interested in having some portraits done.  Bryan found a great space to capture him, and Hidad put up with “left…right…up…down…this way….no that way…I changed my mind, back the other way”  for over an hour.   On this shoot, I wanted to experiment with mixing flash with natural light.  Personal projects are like gold: I can experiment (with plenty of room to fail), I always learn something new, and my excitement for photography is reinvigorated every time.  And then I get to use my new tricks on client shoots.  I was so excited about these results that I scheduled my next personal project shoot as these images were downloading.  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

My nephew, Josh, and I took to London for the 2013 holiday season.  I was so thrilled to take him on his first trip to Europe.  He was (almost) as excited to be my on-call photographic subject for 10 days.  You can tell by his expression, right?  Let’s do it again, Josh!