2026 02 14: Reach like a Tree
I have been nonstop lately. Too busy to post. We wrapped a one-night-only photo show last night at the studio and all I can think about this morning is how much time, energy, and work goes into these things we pursue without any promise of a payoff down the road. It really has to be for the love of the game or you risk driving yourself insane. I often find myself slipping towards resentment that things aren’t working as envisioned, or as quickly as desired.
Today is a quick reminder to myself that, like a tree slowly reaching upward into the unknown, my time in this life should be used enjoying the company of birds, a gentle breeze, and doing the things that I’m good at and most enjoy; not in a race to be the tallest tree on the block.
2026 02 07: the bOtS are back
The bots are back! Really, they probably never left. I got a huge spike in traffic the last few days, which was nice to see until I quickly realized it’s most likely the Chinese ai-training robots back for more content sucking. Visitors from China have jumped back up to 75%, so we’ll see if I need to find a new job soon (I promised myself to quit photography if bot traffic hits 100%).
Have a nice weekend! 🤗
2026 02 05: Blog/Life Focus
Yesterday, my mother-in-law asked me if the studio has had many bookings lately. Much like the nonstop madness of US and world events, which blurs reality itself, my life has been far too packed with stuff lately. The week-long play I’d hosted in my space, which was directed by Kevin Coval who she also knows, didn’t even come to mind. It both somehow feels like years ago and has already been shoved towards the back of my brain’s usable memory.
This is bad!
I need to slow the fuck down and do some more reflection and documentation (see: promotion) of my own life. When I’m not even remembering the things I’m doing, how can anyone else have a chance of knowing what I’m up to? My challenge is always in figuring out how to best “promote” myself. It never feels right to me (have you subscribed to my new substack?!). We’ll continue to work on it.
Lastly, I aim to tweak the focus of this here blog a bit moving forward. My aim is to keep the images more timely; so either images made within the last month or so, or images made in the same season from previous years. Also, I’d like to bring more humanity to the images. Too much of what I’m posting is stuff. I like the stuff, but I think it’s hard to get anyone’s attention posting only photos of trash on the lawn and cigarettes on the cement.
2026 02 04: RIP Marie
RIP Marie’s. tbh I forgot about the place. Time passes us all, unfortunately. I was lucky enough to partake in this gem of gems, as we say in these parts, a few times before they poured the last cold one. These days, I drive past the location regularly without giving it a second thought. That will change after this lovely time capsule reminder from our friends Andy and Conan.
2026 02 03: My B/W Era, an Update
The motivating force for making this post was that I’m currently in a bit of a black/white phase, as a contemplated back then (point one). It’s been fun and I like how it’s training me to visualize scenes in a different way than I would normally. Perhaps I’ll make a zine of the work down the road… but really, it has me seeing more potential for more thought-out and focused black/white projects.
Traveling (point two) remains my favorite thing to do when time allows. Having just returned from a job down in Louisville, I was able to put one day into my abstract Illinois Wandering project (point three), which led to a few decent images and even more grand ideas. I haven’t yet been able to figure out how to make this practice make money, though perhaps in time the images that are made from the trips will pay off in various ways. Photography as a job is always an abstract journey! While previously the commercial jobs were paying the bills, lately they have been few and far between (point four). It’s stressful financially but has allowed me to explore my own artistic impulses, which is rewarding in other ways.
While you might think the lack of jobs has allowed me huge amounts of free time, the exact opposite has been true, as I’m forced to fill in the gaps with other money-making endeavors (really, it’s mostly me scrambling to make enough money to cover my studio rent each month, which is a significant use of my time). Pivoting my career towards video (point five) and/or becoming a “Creative Agency” has been a serious consideration, but one that I’ve resisted and made a point to avoid if at all possible.
My longer term outlook on the creative field has me continually looking towards art instead of commerce, which likely goes against most peoples’ logic. I see too many headwinds to continue solely down the path of commercial photography without going crazy in the near future. I’d rather scrape by doing things I much rather enjoy.
2026 01 27
Currently, the photo studio that I opened four years ago is undergoing a transformation of sorts. While photo will always be a part of my life, when it comes to the studio, my current aim is to pivot quite dramatically away from photo and towards events. I’m in the process of sorting out the boring-but-necessary backend stuff (namely: insurance). Once I get that figured out, I’m excited to make a push and get focused on seeing results for my efforts. While I’ve always loved the space, it’s never had much of a focus; we’ll aim to change that. Our lease expires in one year, so it’s sort of make-or-break now-or-never time. Hit me up if you need a room for a birthday party!
2026 01 26
This is not a political blog, but this snap felt appropriate today. Things lately are quite demoralizing. I am supposed to be on the road right now, as I type this, focusing on some personal shooting. Instead, the massive storm that hit much of the country yesterday caused me to delay my departure date by another day to await confirmation that the project I’m traveling for is even happening.
These days, I’m very motivated to make personal work, but it seems like everything is holding me back. Yes, this is an Excuse. But the mortgage is real and currently my work/life balance doesn’t allow much time for play (and by play I mean work, but fun work!). Aiming to change this in the coming months. Until then…
2026 01 22: Age of Agency
Previously, I posted a link to an article about agency and how we’re now in the “Age of Agency” (See: 2025 08 20). These days, human intelligence is being commoditized and replaced by computer, while agency is what may give you an edge. My friend Jack has since sent me another link about agency, which I thought was also worth sharing. The author, George Mack, has gone ahead and made a whole website to host his article, which is… quite agentic of him.
2026 01 15: Don’t Fret
Thinking of Cooper today.
Life goes on, doesn’t it? Damn. Make the best of the time you have while you still have time to be had.
2026 01 14: Simplify in 2026
Simplifying My Life in 2026
In doing some deeper thinking on what I should focus on this year, it came to my mind that perhaps less is more. Last year was a throw-evertyhing-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks year. That approach can be fun but is not sustainable. Knowing myself as I do, avoiding the mundane organizational logistics of life in favor of fun new adventures is my standard operating procedure; opening a photo studio but not figuring out how to efficiently operate it; opening a photobook shop but neglecting the backend paperwork; making a million photos but failing to tell people I’m a photographer… these practices are unsustainable and will eventually catch up with you. In hopes of avoiding the repercussions, this year will be spent doing the Not Fun things required of us.
2026 01 13: Hiromix
Get trendy; get famous; make art; sell; retire. I’m still working on the first step and will realistically be stuck there for the rest of my days. That said, I did jump onto the snapshot trend in my early career, not so much by design but on accident. The early photography wave I caught has gotten me to where I am today, which is further to shore than most can say.
While in search of the next wave, this video popped into my feed and I thought it was an interesting topic and well made video, thus this post.
“Proving everyday life is worthy of art.” … “The girl who took the first selfie” …
2026 01 12
Not much to say today, but contemplating bars and my drinking habits as I listen to a Dry January segment on NPR. I’m drinking less than I used to, however, am also far from quitting alcohol. It’s fascinating to consider how human habits can change so relatively quickly and on such a large scale; people are drinking far less and having less sex. While I don’t have any answers as to why this is the case, social media is my immediate suspect. I still love bars myself, I think because they are the perfect solution when my introverted self wants to be social — I can sit alone in a room of people and observe, or engage and socialize if I’m feeling more adventurous. Either way, the juice dulls my over-stimulated brain so that it resembles something a bit more manageable. Keeping the balance of using vs abusing is where things can get complicated and there’s no doubt many people I know should not touch alcohol no matter what the reason for wanting to.
2026 01 10
In the new year, I need to devise a new organizational strategy for my various image projects to help me better search and find things to post on this here blog. The plan is still to begin sharing more work from my personal Illinois Project (and perhaps eventually Chicago Project and Northwoods Project). While the aim is still to elevate things a bit more around here, I don’t want to lose the exploration aspect of the blog. It will be a balancing act.
2026 01 09: Downtown
I really need to get downtown more often. I love the layers and the hidden discoveries. On this day, it was a basement-level food court in a century-old building designed for a previous era when thousands of salary workers flooded the area for work, then fled back to the suburbs. These days, downtown is in search of a new identity.
2026 01 08: End ICE
I’m reeeeally doing my best to avoid the news these days for my own sanity’s sake, however, this cute lil guy felt appropriate today considering yesterday’s news out of Minnesota.
Fuck ICE. Stay safe out there, y’all.
2026 01 07: Keep it 100
In attempting to make good on one of my year-end resolutions (see: 2025 12 30), I’ve got my “Keep it 100” portraits sessions on offer from January 8-13. Since I opened up bookings so last minute, I’m going to have a very hard time of getting people to sign up, which will likely spiral me back into a pessimistic outlook on the whole thing. Ho hum. If you want to book a session, you can do so here; and if you use the code KEEP-IT-100, you’ll unlock the insanely low price of $100 for an individual session.
2026 01 06: Creative Resolution
My Creative Resolution for 2026
Last year I was planning to make a big pivot both to making motion work and hitting the streets once again as a photographer (see: 2025 01 06). The thinking was, by putting myself into the city and regularly making work wherever the roads and trains took me, I’d be influenced and inspired while simultaneously building a new body of work and getting my name out there. As it happened, I failed at both. This is not to say I didn’t have a successful year from a creative perspective, however, the specific goals I’d set for myself were not met. When I stop to think why this was the case, I think it was largely because I got distracted with life events and ultimately the reason for picking these tasks was misaligned with the reality of how to best achieve my bigger career goals.
2026 01 05
2026 01 04
2026 01 01: Becoming a Daily Blogger
It feels appropriate to check in on the blog in this, the first day of a fresh new year. As this website was set up, I start a new blog section each year and thought it would be a good idea to try a slightly new visual approach this time. While the writing has always been my primary focus around here, I am a photographer after all, so it makes sense to attempt to create a more visually-appropriate layout. That said, I think the limiting factor is the platform I’m using. The provided tools are quite basic and will never be able to do the things I’d love to create without a significant time and money investment. It’s just not worth it for what it is (a space for me to mostly talk to myself). Acknowledging this fact has been a huge improvement for me personally, as I tend to be a perfectionist to a detrimental degree.