I had the good fortune to photograph Tom Skilling on a couple occasions. And he really was the nicest guy in the world. He always had time to talk to everyone who wanted to speak to him.
Viewing entries in
editorial photography
I spent about 30 hours on the streets of London to be at the front of the crowd and see the King's procession go by on May 6th. It was my first Coronation after two royal weddings, and over 100 royal engagements photographed since the 1980's.
FEI World Carriage Driving Championships, August 1986
Some of you know I photographed the Royal Family 'once or twice' in the 1980's. Actually, I honed my photography skills photographing them from 1985-88, just before I finished college and turned pro. The Duke of Edinburgh was at many of the events I attended, almost always at the Queen's side. The only time I photographed him on his own was when he competed at the World Carriage Driving Championships in August 1986.
These unpublished photos have never been seen anywhere until now.
RIP Prince Philip.
Guards Polo Club, Royal Ascot week, June 1987
It’s no secret the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016. The city went crazy; anything and everything connected to the Cubs was suddenly gold. Everyone wanted to know about the team and the city was in a state of shock after a 108 year World Series drought.
One of my favorite clients over the last 12 years has been Naperville Magazine and in April 2017, we were able to do a story on Gina Grimm, wife of pitcher Justin, who grew up in Naperville. Unfortunately since the season was underway, Justin couldn’t make it but Gina was able to shoot at Wrigley Field on a clear Spring morning. I wanted a background that would be instantly recognizable to Cubs fans so I posed her on top of the dugout with the iconic ivy covered walls and scoreboard in the background. We weren’t allowed to shoot on the field (the mound would’ve been my first choice for a location), but I admit I partly wanted to shoot there just to know what it felt like to be on the ‘hallowed turf’…
We didn’t have a lot of time with Gina, but as a baseball fan, it was one of my more memorable shoots. After all, what other job will allow you to get into an empty Wrigley Field, take over part of the stadium for half an hour and and get paid to be there?
Gear | Canon 1DX Mark2, 24-105mm f/4L USM, 70-200mm f/2.8L II USM
In 2017, one of the most famous authors in the world today, Stephen King, co-authored a new book with his son, Owen. As part of his promotional tour in the Chicago area, an event was held in the field house of North Central College (who hired me to shoot publicity pictures of Mr King’s visit to the college). Over 3,300 people lined up to purchase the book and hear Stephen and Owen speak about their collaboration.
I have to admit, I’ve never read a Stephen King book (I’m a non-fiction reader), but it was fun hanging out with and talking to the Kings as they autographed books backstage before the event. I also got to talk with Owen about Maine (where Stephen lives and where I do landscape photography workshops).
Gear | Canon 1DX Mark2, 24-105mm f/4L II USM, 70-200mm f/2.8L II USM, 300mm f/2.8L USM
My wife Wendy is a good baker. A very good baker. For years, she's baked shortbread, toffee and peppermint bark for Christmas presents. Recently she started selling her treats and the response has been tremendous. The "bakery" is in full swing right now. On Monday she took the day off her day job to work on two very big orders, baking over thirty dozen shortbread cookies by mid-afternoon. And yours truly was there to document the big day.
I was contacted by a writer out of Los Angeles a couple months ago to be featured in their digital magazine, Voyage Chicago. This week, the article came out. Read it here.
One of my favorite clients is Naperville Magazine, who I’ve been shooting for since 2007. The magazine has a circulation of over 40,000, and is bundled with the Sunday Chicago Tribune. My assignments have included shooting CEOs of multinational corporations, interiors of beautifully renovated homes, working with dozens of models for fashion spreads, shooting in restaurants, colleges and on the streets of downtown Naperville and other Chicagoland locations. It’s been a lot of fun and the variety has been great.
Not too long ago, I photographed one of my favorites shoots for the magazine which also came out as the cover story. In late November, we met up at Toyota Park to do the shooting with Casey Short, who plays defense for the Chicago Red Stars soccer team and has been invited to try out for the USA national team.
Casey couldn’t have been more easy to work with. We had the stadium to ourselves to work in and around, so we shot the cover image in the tunnel leading down to the field. We also used the field as well as the Chicago Fire (men’s soccer team) locker room. Most of the shots were taken using basic lighting– a medium soft box, with natural light allowed to fill in the background– and a Canon 1DX Mark II camera. I used a 70-200 f/2.8 lens for all the pictures except the action shots, which were taken on a 300mm f/2.8 lens.
