Welcome, and Thank You!

At left you will find a list of schools I am applying to and their deadlines. They are listed from earliest deadline to latest. You will find informations about submitting your completed recommendations there. In the next 2 weeks I will be submitting your information to the various schools which require me to send them your information. Once that is completed you will be able to file your recommendation with those schools.

At right, you will find a link to my resume, websites and contact information.

The blog is laid out with the most recent and important items at the top. Scrolling down you will find an abbreviated look at all of my major photography projects including links to the expanded project. I also address less formal bodies of work and areas of interest. Finally, all the way at the bottom you can find a few images from my undergraduate study.

Everything on this site has been photographed on film, which I then scan. Most of the work is 645, 6x9 and 4x5, though my Lake. Sky. Vans. project is 35mm.

Though I did study print making and have explored, and become very proficient at, working with wood, I have not included these projects here as they are not related to my photography work. I think there is plenty here to look at, maybe too much! I tried to hit the high points. Let me know if you have questions about the  projects or about submission of the letters of recommendation.

Again, thank you!

Submission Portfolio

To view the 20 image portfolio that I will be submitting to Yale, UNM, Columbia and SAIC, click HERE.

To view the 25 image portfolio submission to SFAI click HERE.

Chicago Public Pools

Davis Park Pool, Looking West, 2010

The summer of 2010 stirred in me the compulsion to photograph each and every one of Chicago's 47 outdoor public swimming pools. Initially, I was interested in telling the story of childhood and summertime in the city, featuring the cheapest way to stay cool and have fun: the public pool. This interest stems from my own childhood in suburban Chicago. As a kid, I lived nearby the local pool; it seems like my sister and I swam everyday and spent every evening sitting on the couch, on towels, in our still-wet suits. To get started this summer, I created a map of the pools* and embarked on a Chicago neighborhoods tour that took me from Ada Park, at 11250 South Ada, to Norwood Park, at 5801 North Natoma Avenue – over 1,200 blocks north to south and 92 blocks from east to west. What I discovered was much more varied and complicated then I could have imagined. These pools created timeless images; without indicators like cars, clothes or digital accessories, these images could have been made anytime in the last half century. Regionally ambiguous as well, they read as a portrait of urban America, as if they could have been taken in any major city in the United States. Taken as a whole, the photographs paint a layered representation of the urban community: stoic architectural treatments of the pools, sans people, intimate portraits of kids and adults who frequent the pools, and finally, crowded pool shots of the varied demographic communities that occupy the pools at any given time.
*Click HERE for the map

Click HERE for the full Statement as a PDF. (link is not set)
Click HERE for the top 50 images from the Pool Project.
Click HERE for the next 100 images form the Pool Project

Hamilton Park Pool, Posing, 2010

Pulaski Park Pool, Lockers, 2010

Pulaski Park Pool, from Cleaver Street rooftop, 2010

Myself as Otto Dix - Remake 2009

Myself as Otto Dix, 2009

Otto Dix was a promising and solicitous young painter at the turn of the last century. He painted this self-portrait as a young man of 21, while attending the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
The work shows a skeptical young man on the cusp. His gaze toward the future is leery and determined. Yet, he shows himself holding a flower, a sign of hope and optimism. His grasp is light and awkward.

Barely two years later, he was an enlisted soldier. Dix’s experiences in WWI, where he was stationed on the Western Front and seriously wounded several times, and WWII, where he was persecuted by the Nazis and held as a POW for some time, directed his imagery for the rest of his life. His work was critical of the Weimar Republic’s bourgeois class. He hideously depicted the atrocities of war and drew attention to the darker side of life, unsparingly depicting prostitution, violence, old age, and death.

My own personal ancestry is tied to this same land. My last name being a common Americanization of Weimar, spelled W-E-I-M-E-R.

How could Otto Dix have known the horrors that lie ahead for him as a 21-year-old man? Yet his expression seems to tell us that he does. This remake of his portrait is my homage to his life and work, and also, to the cautious optimism that he displays on the verge of the rest of his life. Looking forward to future unknowns.

Jack Spencer - remake 2010

Jack Spencer's powerful image, Man with Fish, Como, MS, 1996 (at left), is the inspiration for this piece. His photograph of a young man with a large caught fish is about potential, bounty and hope. It's glowing light and deep shadows speak of life's miracles and mysteries, including man's complicated relationship to nature and the cycle of life.

Although Mr. Spencer uses the word “Man” in the title, to me it speaks about youth. The optimism of the large fish and the smooth hairless chest make me think “young man” of about 20 years old. A man, but not by much.

My treatment of the image is anti-optimism. By reshooting the image with an older fully grown man, holding a small diminutive fish, I am expressing disappointment. This, along with his softer physique, less symmetrical frame and somewhat slouchy appearance, convey my dissatisfaction in mediocrity, reality, mankind and men.

I was compelled to “re” create this piece after breaking up with my boyfriend as a way of expressing my frustration about what I perceived to be his inability to fulfill traditional gender roles. By using my ex-boyfriend as a model I am talking about my specific disappointment in him, as well as, a universal feelings of frustration. This man, 30 years old, holds a fish too small for him. As it is not enough to nourish him alone, it is certainly not enough to nourish another. He cannot contribute to his family, or his community at large. This is an image about coming up short.

Homage to John De Andrea - Remake 2007

*this image was intended as the first in a series, which I used to apply for an IAC Grant. I did not receive the grant and at this time I have not made any more images.

This project explores the current disconnect that exists between modern men and women of marrying age, which stems from the introduction, and subsequent ingrained use, of modern technologies in our personal lives. Here, the women's feelings of vulnerability and frustration are highlighted specifically. Inter-personal connections and courtesy are lost through the dependence on devices in our everyday lives. Cellular phones, Blackberries, iPods, laptops, portable TVs, DVD and video game players prevent these various courtesies and face-to-face exchanges that courtship is built upon. A void resulting from only virtual contact has left young women, many of whom embrace feminism, with feelings of frustration and vulnerability in modern courtship and their relationships with men. While searching for a suitable mate, these women face not only a more accelerated and artificial environment, but also, a more detached, socially awkward and distracted group of men. Unlike women, without a biological clock driving them toward finding a successful mate, these men seem unmotivated to seek something lasting and maybe even unsure of what that might entail.

It is clear that this phenomenon does not affect all women or just women, nor are all men struck with these technology related shortcomings. This project highlights just one of many new struggles that people face in the modern age of technology.

This project re-imagines famous images depicting love and relationships and reworks them to reflect this modern dilemma. These are images of a man and a woman.Technology is interjected into the composition on the male half: the woman is shown naked to express her vulnerability in this new modern paradigm. She is literally exposed.


This image was shot with a 4x5 camera.

Self-Portrait Show @ the Feather Lofts

Self-Portrait from a Past-Life (as a Soviet Bloc Whore)

This photo shoot, in my grandmother’s mink coat, was a way of trying to express my sense of lose and sorrow over her death and also to demonstrate my strong feelings of connectedness to my past, and my family.

The resulting image is haunting. The girl in the picture barely looks like me. Does she look sad, serious, somber, or resigned? All four, perhaps. She possesses a stoic strength and an extreme vulnerability. I get a sense of survivalism and guarded pride. Hiding her true self in an effort to preserve it.

To me, she looks like a prostitute. A reluctant purveyor of the worlds' oldest profession.

In the shared history of women the world over, we know that most women, of the past (and many of the present), have been sexually exploited through human trafficking and sexual servitude. Today, as in the past, many women and girls working in prostitution and vice have been coerced into the lifestyle and held there under threat or through force. Those who escape that fate often find themselves forced into an arranged marriage against their will, and others are mothers forced to live with an abusive man in order to support and protect herself and/or her children.

Today the largest numbers of women facing the disgusting fate of human trafficking are from floundering countries that make up the old Soviet Union.
Once I saw the image I knew that she was me, but she was also another woman. One who stands in for past women. Women who wear their beauty and their body as a shield, a blanket, a life raft, a weapon and often times as a scarlet letter.

I believe strongly in reincarnation. It explains connections, memories and feeling, that I have, that are distant and unrelated to my current self.

Wearing the fur coat of my maternal grandmother makes me feel close to the past and its relation to my own personal history. While searching for a literal connection to this past, I happened upon a transcendent image and realized a connection to all women and their inherent female cross to bare - past, present and future.

The Building Project

Unit 2 Installation, Tape drawing with C-prints

From 2004 to 2009 I lived in a brick three-story corner building on Chicago’s historic Logan Boulevard, in the northwest-side neighborhood of Logan Square. The area, at that time was in a state of accelerated gentrification. This change was accentuated by the Boulevard’s buildings. Elaborate graystones, brownstones and historic estates, many of which were once owned by the city’s historical figures, line the street. While much of the neighborhood is rehabilitated condominiums and some new construction, our building is one of the few remaining rental properties, which attracts a range of tenants. The "low-rent", studio and one bedroom apartments in the building were home to a host of unique individuals who won't be around when this building inevitably turns condo. By taking a portrait of my neighbors in their apartments I am also taking a snapshot of this neighborhood at this specific time in its history, as well as, the varied ways people exist in their living space.

Patty, with Sweety Bird, 2007

This project took just under a year to complete. I introduced myself to each neighbor and requested to photographed them in their almost identical apartments. After much scheduling and canceling, I was able to photograph all 18 units, including myself. One person refused to be photographed and he is represented by his interior front door. This project was presented in a group show with the art collective Unit 2, in 2008. 

Emancipated Sisters, 14 and 16 yrs old, 2007

Click HERE to view all 18 portraits.

Lake. Sky. Vans. - 2005 Solo Show

Lake.Sky.Vans., 2005

The American Urban experience is my main photographic interest. I have investigated urban environments all over the United States, through documentary photography. I examine their overall uniformity and, the sometimes minor, dissemblance that define them. Starting in my hometown of Chicago, I delve further into this idea by investigating it’s local distinctiveness. Lake.Sky.Vans. includes upwards of 350 photos of the city of Chicago. I pursue these three elements (Lake, Sky, and Vans) as central to Chicago’s specific visual aesthetic, and examine their effects on the residents and their feelings of nostalgia and regional identity.


By providing the audience with vivid, street level, illustrations of the Chicago landscape I show how, through these three factors, this city’s individuality is most profoundly realized. Also uncovered are the distinctly American elements, present in every major American city. Through the visual repetition of these themes the viewer is instilled with a (mock) sense of nostalgia for these elements, and hopefully an insight into the feelings of identity shared by city dwellers.Vans prove to be the most transcendental of the three elements. This is because identity is not a passive experience for the van owner. Vans on the streets of Chicago make statements about class, climate, family, consumption and economics. The word “Vans” used in this context is a metaphor for car culture and includes other vehicles specific to this Midwestern region and inherent in this culture, including, large sedans: Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria’s, Lincoln Towncars, junk trucks: modified scavengers pick-up trucks and also station wagons, generally circa 75-92.

This project has been featured on NPR, WBEZ Chicago, 848 show with Steve Edwards. Well received by listeners and well liked by staff, it was replayed on the Hello Beautiful, Sunday Morning Art Show and again on 848. Following the airings of this interview I was contacted by listeners who wanted to tell me about a van. Most people spoke about their own van or their ‘old’ van, some spoke of their father’s, a friend’s, or a van they pass on the way to work. Some expressed feeling validated in their love of vans while others were brought to a new level in their conscious appreciation. Through this exposure I was contacted by Venus magazine, and was interviewed for their featured artist section on venuszine.com, their publications website. This culminated in a successful solo show at heaven gallery in Chicago, Illinois from January through February of 2005.

Hand-made wood sign with 350 framed prints, Heaven Gallery Show (room 1)

As I would come to do again, I created a site specific installation for the project including a handmade, wood sign and 350 small, framed prints, as well as, 45 large (16x24) prints. These large prints can be viewed HERE.

Calendar Girls - 2008

In 2008, after buying a poster-sized calendar page from March 1957, with a photo of a beautiful young girl on it, I was inspired to shoot my own “pin-up” calendar. I decided that my calendar would be somewhere in between the racy and objectified pin-ups of yesteryear (a la Betty Paige) and the fresh-faced, wholesome, future house wives of America, like Ms. March 1957 (at left). Though these 12 ladies are wearing authentic vintage swim wear, unlike the original calendars, these women appear strong, not smiling and represent many races and ethnicities. These women did their own hair and make-up, all but two are 30 or older (including some mothers) and not one of them looks like she will clean up after you. They are Mid-western girls.
Click HERE for all 12 portraits.

Ms. July

Ms. April

Undercover Beauties

Portrait of Nikki Lugo, 2009

Image from the CTC Archive

Undercover Beauties is a collection of over 300 historic and rare photographs of women in tattooing that I have researched and curated over the last 3 years. With the Chicago Tattoo Company, owners of the images, we hope to publish the collection as a book. I have interviewed and photographed a number of prominent female artists to augment the collection (example, above). Currently, we are in talks with publishers. For more info on this project please request information from me.

Vietnam 2006

Hotel View, Japan, 2006

In 2006 I was able to travel to Vietnam and scratch a life-long itch. After years of interest in our countries shared history and exposure to Vietnamese customs and culture (through friends) I was lucky enough to travel throughout north and south Vietnam. I shot with a vintage 6x9 fold-up bellows camera and a small Contax point and shoot.

Since this trip I have traveled and photographed extensively in the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya, and more. Often, I bring new (to me) cameras on my travels, including panoramic, vintage and underwater cameras.

Waterpark, HCMC Siagon, 2006

Power lines, Vietnam, 2006

Barbie Vendor, Vietnam 2006

Hanoi at night, 2006

Portraits

Girl Guerrilla, 2006

After undergrad, I did not stop shooting portraits, though I had no specific focus. I photographed people of interest to me, like neighbors and artist friends of mine. Typically, with their families, in their homes and studios, at work, or out making or installing art.

Joey D. with the three Marias, 2008

During this time I also began photographing at funerals of family and close friends. My interest in Memento Mori (the photographing of the dead) continues and is something that I hope to explore further in a more formal manner. Some of these images can be viewed HERE.

2001-2005

In the years after college I traveled the country extensively, for months at a time, photographing urban and rural landscapes. For the first time, I was exposed to nature and camping and this had a profound effect on me. I shot images of never-ending natural landscapes, quirky urban idiosyncrasies and places where urban and rural meet.

Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles, 2004

Split House, Toronto, 2005

Honolulu View, 2002

Canyon from the Horse Trail, Navajo Nation, 2002

Undergrad @ SAIC 1997 - 2001

Frank, after the fall, 2000

My undergraduate study at SAIC was comprised of a number of different projects, most notably a few series of portraits. I photographed my family, close friends and their families, as well as, kids and people in the community. Specifically, children from the Cabrini Green housing project. These projects laid the ground-work for my continued interest in portraiture, community and identity. I took in-depth looks at various friends of mine through series. Photographing for the first time at cemeteries, hospitals and intimate family gatherings.

Sunny, with her grandma Joyce, 2000

Alex, in my car, 1999

Living room portrait, 2001

Flip, Cabrini Green, 1999