F/U & BE THERE

.walgreen ballerinas, state & randolph, chicago, il.

2012-01-19T20:09:00.003-06:00

.dearborn st., chicago, il.

2012-01-16T20:28:00.001-06:00

.block 37, chicago, il.

2012-01-12T01:27:00.000-06:00

.jackson blvd., chicago, il.

2011-12-05T17:16:00.001-06:00

.somewhere in the loop. chicago,il.

2011-11-21T19:15:00.001-06:00

.irving park underpass bus stop, chicago, il.

2011-10-22T18:37:00.000-05:00

.irving park road underpass, chicago, il.

2011-08-16T21:19:00.000-05:00

.mish mash of photos from Look3 Festival of the Photograph 2011, charlottesville, va.

2011-06-15T19:51:00.001-05:00

.rainy & cold, chicago, il.

2011-06-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Posted this one a while back but it was in color. I like it in black & white better.

.irving park metra stop, chicago, il.

2011-05-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

.wacker dr., chicago, il.

2011-05-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

.state street, chicago, il.

2011-04-10T19:58:00.000-05:00

.chicago ave. blue line stop, chicago, il.

2011-03-04T19:58:00.000-06:00

.michigan ave. & huron, chicago, il.

2011-01-26T01:47:00.000-06:00

.peco, wabash ave., chicago, il.

2011-01-20T20:11:00.000-06:00

.art institute of chicago's modern wing, chicago, il.

2011-01-12T08:47:00.001-06:00

.michigan ave., chicago, il.

2011-01-06T21:07:00.001-06:00

.sofia, at her grandparents, east chicago, in.

2010-12-14T16:49:00.001-06:00

I think this blog could use a little color every now and then.

.jackson blvd., chicago, il.

2010-12-06T01:30:00.000-06:00

.irving park rd., chicago, il.

2010-11-18T01:07:00.000-06:00

.washington street. chicago, il.

2010-11-04T15:49:00.000-05:00

.federal st., chicago, il.

2010-09-30T23:35:00.000-05:00

.revolving doors, jackson blvd., chicago, il.

2010-09-29T18:09:00.000-05:00

.morning smoke, lake st., chicago, il.

2010-08-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

.the marquette building, chicago, il.

2010-08-19T00:49:00.000-05:00

.William Klein "Out Of Necessity".

2010-08-16T21:46:00.002-05:00

i love his earlier work and especially his book, "Life is Good & Good For You in New York." one of my favorites.

.rush hour in the loop, jackson blvd., chicago.

2010-08-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

.the shedd aquarium, chicago, il.

2010-08-09T18:24:00.000-05:00

.bow minus the arrow, jackson st., chicago, il.

2010-08-08T12:47:00.000-05:00

.dearborn st., chicago, il.

2010-08-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

.under the train tracks on irving park rd., chicago, il.

2010-08-02T11:37:00.000-05:00

.window washers, lake st., chicago, il.

2010-07-31T20:00:00.000-05:00

.baby stroller, wabash ave., chicago, il.

2010-07-29T23:54:00.000-05:00

.tingambato, mexico.

2010-07-28T22:55:00.000-05:00

.crosswalk at wabash, chicago, il.

2010-07-27T20:04:00.000-05:00

.unloading meat, uruapan, mexico.

2010-07-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

2010-07-23T20:12:00.003-05:00

"The pictures I took spontaneously - with a bliss-like sensation, as if they had long inhabited my unconscious - were often more powerful than those I had painstakingly composed. I grasped their magic as in passing. " - Herbert List

.pallet pulling, lake street, chicago, il.

2010-07-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

.soccer player. tingambato, mexico.

2010-07-22T16:35:00.000-05:00

.the butcher. tingambato, mexico.

2010-07-21T23:17:00.002-05:00

.near 18th st. in the pilsen neighborhood, chicago, il.

2010-07-15T19:52:00.001-05:00

.from the missouri archive, rodeo at the boone county fairgrounds, 2007.

2010-07-13T20:48:00.001-05:00

.irving park bus stop near the train stop, chicago, il.

2010-07-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

.adams st., chicago, il.

2010-07-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

.state street, chicago, il.

2010-07-05T18:32:00.004-05:00

.merchandise mart brown line L stop, chicago, il.

2010-06-13T18:31:00.002-05:00

.window washer, jackson blvd., chicago, il.

2010-06-07T18:05:00.001-05:00

.guitar player, washington blue line stop, chicago, il.

2010-06-04T22:36:00.002-05:00

.l kiss, madison/wabash train stop, chicago, il.

2010-06-03T00:06:00.000-05:00

.hyde park, chicago, il.

2010-05-27T12:04:00.000-05:00

.pie shop window, chicago ave., chicago, il.

2010-05-13T00:39:00.003-05:00

.storefront church, western ave., chicago, il.

2010-05-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

.wells street, under the el, chicago, il.

2010-04-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

.sofia & gisela @ the playground, lima, oh.

2010-04-01T01:38:00.002-05:00

here's one of my daughter and wife at the shawnee middle school playground in lima, oh during a visit to my parents.

.miami, fl.

2010-03-20T01:21:00.004-05:00

here's one from a couple of years ago while i was in miami attending the new york times student journalism institute. the link goes the most recent class and their work that was held in arizona. i don't think they archived ours unfortunately.

.joey & angela.

2010-03-18T11:47:00.006-05:00

back in january i shot a wedding here in chicago at the historic blackstone hotel on michigan ave. here are just a couple of my favorites. you can check more on my wedding blog at luzcophoto.blogspot.com

.farm days at the petersen farm. mchenry, il.

2010-03-16T11:18:00.003-05:00

going through the archives and found this one i took while i was at the northwest herald in crystal lake, il. the girl on the right was really thinking this whole petting thing through.

.band shoot: pure remedy. chicago, il.

2010-03-13T15:59:00.012-06:00

for about a year now I've been freelancing for cafe magazine here in chicago. nothing steady but i'm always happy when they call. these are from a while back for an article on some local latino rock bands. i didn't want to do the standard rock band shots and it's hard to come up with something unique when time is short. so nothing unique here. pure remedy were really nice guys & upon arrival they offered me pizza & a cup of boone's which I declined cause I had just eaten and i have bad memories of boone's. they asked me what my favorite band was & i mentioned the pixies not thinking they would have heard of them since I'm quite older than they are. much to my surprise & delight they played "where is my mind," before I left. louie ocampo is the guitar player & singer i shot in the first frame.

.my girls, gisela & sofi on the blue line, chicago.

2010-03-08T23:57:00.001-06:00

sofi's first train ride.

.jay pritzker pavillion, chicago.

2010-03-05T09:47:00.000-06:00

.art institute of chicago's modern wing.

2010-02-22T22:29:00.005-06:00

was walking through the new addition to the art institute of chicago & found this...

.the indiana diner. east chicago, in.

2010-02-17T23:34:00.000-06:00

.state st. chicago, il.

2010-02-16T23:52:00.002-06:00

.my first feature hunt.

2010-02-13T18:27:00.012-06:00

i'm doing a little archive digging and found some photos from my first day at the Columbia Missourian while attending the University of Missouri School of Journalism. i decided to post these after reading Ms. Amanda Lucier's posting on how much she loves feature hunting and how different she shoots in the matter of just one hour looking for a feature. i ended up loving feature hunting. it's nerve-racking, exciting and scary all rolled up into one.

this seems like it was so long ago. it was my very first day at the Missourian (2007 i think) and I was the first photographer that walked through the photo department door on the first day after the holiday break. I was expecting to have at least a couple of assignments lined up but when I got in they told me they had none but just to go out and feature hunt and they may or may not need to use it. i was really, really nervous anyway. i spent the next 8 hours wandering around columbia, mo looking for anything.

i ended up visiting this woman's apartment in a local senior citizens complex. i can't remember her name off the top of my head (it's in a notebook in a box full of other notebooks in my closet at the moment). i met her earlier in the day and said she was always happy to have visitors. we chatted for a bit & she told me about her kids and mentioned that her husband that had passed away not to long ago. she seemed really lonely. i made this one while her attention was somewhere else.

i stopped into a laundromat for the bottom one. not thinking i'd find anything i started talking one of the workers and asked if i could follow him around for a bit while he did laundry people dropped for him. he ended up telling me he finds all kinds of things in pockets while doing other people's laundry like rocks of cocaine, marijuana, candy, pocket knives, photos.

none of the pictures ran the next day but they used the laundromat picture a week later or so in a new photo column they were trying to start.

i miss the hunt but i guess i still do it to some extent. now it's just on my time and my dime.

* I promised myself to make more of an effort to write with my posts. i think i had diarrhea of the fingers with this one.

. bel-long laundry on belmont ave., chicago, il.

2010-02-09T19:49:00.001-06:00

.east chicago, indiana. south shore line train stop.

2010-02-08T22:52:00.004-06:00

my wife was born and raised in this northwest corner of indiana. it's an old steel mill town & as you can guess from the name it's really close to chicago. other towns in this area are whiting, hammond & gary (home of michael jackson). if there were no signs telling you just crossed over from illinois to indiana you'd never know you left chicago. I have cousins, aunts & uncles who live in the southeast side of chicago just minutes from northwest indiana. i've been visiting this part of chicago & indiana since I was a kid. i love the grittiness of this area but i guess this picture would say otherwise.

.van buren st, chicago, il.

2010-02-03T21:36:00.001-06:00

.monroe st., chicago, IL

2010-02-02T00:46:00.001-06:00

.making up for lost time...

2010-01-29T21:46:00.001-06:00

haven't posted in quite some time. here goes...

.daley plaza, chicago.

2009-12-13T14:33:00.007-06:00

.michigan ave.

2009-07-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

.weddings.

2009-07-02T22:22:00.007-05:00

I've been shooting a lot of weddings this summer as a second shooter for some really good established wedding photographers here in Chicago. I'm trying to learn the ropes on the business side because you know what? They pay da bills. They're fun which I didn't expect when starting out. One of the photographers who I shot for is a Mizzou grad and he said, "Treat it exactly like a news assignment and you'll do fine." I like the pressure of them as well, no second chances.

.el pink line.

2009-06-30T00:04:00.001-05:00

.la salle st.

2009-06-25T17:20:00.000-05:00

.cicero ave.

2009-06-18T11:55:00.000-05:00

.monroe st..

2009-06-16T15:42:00.002-05:00

.bridge to the newly built modern wing of the art institute of chicago.

.randolph st.

2009-06-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

.state st.

2009-06-09T22:15:00.002-05:00

.randolph st.

2009-06-07T13:39:00.004-05:00

.chicago & western.

2009-06-04T01:09:00.002-05:00

.chicago ave.

2009-05-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

.daley plaza.

2009-05-05T21:09:00.000-05:00

.clark and lake el station.

2009-05-04T08:50:00.000-05:00

.ice cream.

.views from the clark & lake el station.

2009-04-24T20:41:00.006-05:00

most times when I go out to shoot i find my self in a hurry. sometimes I walk and walk and wonder why i don't find anything worth shooting & it's usually because i rarely stop. i need to slow down a bit, find a nice piece of light & wait until something interesting happens.

even though i stayed at this location for a while, i was nervous because photographing on the CTA (chicago transportation authority) is prohibited. my goal was to make at least one interesting photo. don't know if I did that but here are a few of my favorites.

.skyway.

2009-04-23T22:54:00.003-05:00

.chicago skyway early in the a.m.

.wabash & randolph.

2009-04-17T22:43:00.002-05:00

.my girl on easter sunday.

2009-04-14T01:19:00.001-05:00

.sofia quiñones.

.chicago ave.

2009-04-13T12:16:00.001-05:00

.wabash.

2009-04-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

.snow storm.

2009-04-06T21:53:00.002-05:00

.18th & ashland.

.plane.

2009-03-26T22:28:00.002-05:00

.as seen from belmont ave.

.huacana.

2009-03-24T01:10:00.001-05:00

.cermak.

.adams st.

2009-03-16T00:35:00.001-05:00

.lakeshore dr.

2009-03-12T00:36:00.001-05:00

.polk pink line stop.

2009-03-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

.more peru.

2009-03-05T19:21:00.001-06:00

.peru: a year later.

2009-03-03T11:48:00.007-06:00

I have been going through my photos from my trip to Peru last year and found some that I missed the first time looking through the entire take. I once had a portfolio review where the reviewer told me that he sometimes goes back and looks through takes from old assignments and stories he worked on years ago and looks at which ones he chose to run then. He said that either from experience or just changing as a person (or maybe both), he would have chosen a different photo. "That's the ONE! That's the ONE I should have picked in the first place," he told me he thinks to himself. Maybe these photos a year older have taken on a different look or meaning to me. Then again, maybe not.

.el to downtown.

2009-03-01T18:48:00.001-06:00

.forest park blue line.

2009-02-28T00:41:00.000-06:00

.wabash st.

.wino asking for change.

2009-02-27T19:29:00.000-06:00

.18th st.