2026 05 09
Today, I’m hosting a photo zine show at See You Soon that I’m really excited about. I met Nathan Pearce a few years back at a different show I also hosted at my space, and since then, he’s been a big inspiration for me when it comes to the need to print my images and get them out into the world in physical form. He’ll be bringing 50 of his zines, which is what I find so impressive. The fact that he’s been able to so consistently put out projects as a photographer, while also working a job outside of photography, has me feeling like I need to play catch up in this area of my practice that I’ve so thoroughly neglected.
Obviously, success is relative. The simple fact that you have released a bunch of zines doesn’t automatically make you great at what you do. But what I’m finding (all too late in my career) is that the two small book projects I have so far released, while not perfect, are more fulfilling to me than most anything else I’ve done to this point in my photo career. In large part, I think, it’s the process you need to go through to get to the end product. Round after round of further distilling your output and ideas until it reaches a point that it becomes essentially frozen — printed — for other people to digest and interpret. It’s all very cool, and likely what I’m going to spend much of the next decade focused on myself, despite the difficulty associated with such work (honestly, the challenge is in part what attracts me to book making).
Anyway, off the the studio to get set up. If you happen to be reading this today, come join us! We’ll be looking at and discussing photozines (and snacking and drinking, of course) from 4pm-10pm at my space in the Kimball Arts Center.
2026 05 01
FARMER CITY, ILLINOIS
Ain’t no people here. Except the two kids rolling by on bicycles who say to me, “Hello. Hello.” as they pass, while staring me down like I’m from another planet. There are eyes all over town. But the eyes are not human. They’re painted on various surfaces from a likely-bored artist I’d very much like to meet. I imagine he’s behind a curtain up in one of these buildings on Main Street, peering down at me right now. He’s painting more eyes onto a large canvas while a police scanner crackles in the background. Another old man nearly walks into me, startled by another person walking down the sidewalk. I want to ask him about this place but he’s in a hurry so I let him continue and keep it a mystery.
2026 04 21
Yet another image that could use a human… While walking this trail a few days back, I got very excited by the idea of hosting photography workshop/retreats to this property sometime in the future. A lot to consider, as I’m already plenty busy with a hundred other projects, however, I love to keep a big backlog of ideas floating around in the ole brain to help keep me going. If you happen to be reading this and like the idea — let me know!
2026 04 20
Here’s another image I like, but again think it’s missing a lil something to make it great. A human element, perhaps. Maybe I’ll start doing self portraits when I come across scenes like this. Kidding — that will never happen (I’ve tried it and it does not work).
2026 04 19
We pulled into Kingdom a few nights back determined to show Haley a good time for her belated birthday celebration. As Allison was about to put a fresh homemade pizza into the oven, and I struggled over making cocktails without the prep I’d neglected to do, the house power shut off. Outside, a massive rush of wind had just moved through the surrounding farmland area, which properly spooked me enough to rush back inside, while struggling to close the kitchen door behind me. Would this be our first tornado experience?!
One problem you face inside a 150-year old stone farm house in the middle of nowhere is that you’re basically alone. Sure, the farmers across the road protecting their livestock are technically around, but there’s no municipal warning siren to alert you to take shelter. The small interior windows don’t give you much visibility to the potentially-impedning doom awaiting you outside (this must by why wrap-around porches were invented!). Best thing you can do is head to the basement and hope for the best. We, of course, finished our pizzas as the power thankfully kicked back on; I passed out some mediocre cocktails to help take our minds off the twisters; and once the storm passed we rode into town to partake in the weekly karaoke bar night along with a rather robust crowd, considering the situation.
That’s springtime in the Midwest.
2026 04 17
Heading out this way soon to spend some time with Haley and very much looking forward to it, even with possible tornadoes in the forecast. Especially because of that, really.
Have a nice weekend, y’all.
2026 04 16
While doing computer work, a youtube video about Stephen Shore caught my attention and had me appreciating the subtle details in this photo of mine made last year in Quincy. I’m not trying to compare myself to Shore, however, it was a refreshing break from my work to take in the video and look at some of his images with a bit of honest commentary from the youtuber The Photographic Eye (a channel I often enjoy). It’s easy to get hard on myself about my images when I’m not brining home bangers after a few days of Ill Wandering. But a pause to remember the bigger picture is nice. Not every image needs to be consumed on a phone in half a second.
2026 04 12
I’m finally getting on top of my Ill Wandering archives and edits from the last 2+ years. While I haven’t made this ambiguous project a priority, I do have quite a few nice images and hope to make it more of a focus this year. I’ll start to post more images here in hopes of keeping it top of mind.
2026 04 07
This was a spur-of-the-moment attempt at something while passing through Quincy last year on an Ill Wandering outing. Alec, a bank employee, was nice enough to pose for me as he was leaving work. There’s definitely something here, but not sure my vision fully translated in the final image. Mainly, I’m obsessed with the church spire sticking out from Alec’s head and wandered around town capturing it from every angle imaginable. If you’d like to see a dozen more, let me know! Thanks to Alec for being a good sport and entertaining my artistic whims.
2026 03 28
Stumbled upon the below video while editing images at the studio and wanted to share it here. I was not previously familiar with Jared’s work, but I’m glad to be now! He does a nice job of explaining many things that have been rummaging around in my brain for some time now. These concepts are a big part of why I’m adjusting my approach to my personal IG page and, well, kind of reconfiguring my entire photography career.
It’s good to see the kids are alright and nature is healing.
2026 02 18: Award-Nominated!
I sometimes joke that I’m an “Award-Nominated Photographer.” It’s a cute dig at the world of Serious Photography, while letting you know that I don’t take myself too seriously. That said, I must admit that I’ve been having a bit of regret the last few days over my lack of engagement throughout my career. Living in my own world has its perks, but you gotta play the game a bit sometimes, too.
Early in my career, I attempted to do what you’re supposed to do. I was faced with rejection and made a decision that you can’t lose if you don’t play. This protected my ego for a time, but now that I’m an aging photographer posting to a blog with an audience that’s primarily Chinese ai-Bots, I gotta wonder if it was the right call. Okay, so that’s a harsh assessment. But in many ways, I’m back where I started in my photography career. I’m now focusing on things I want to focus on and doing things I want to do. This is giving me an opportunity, of sorts, to do things differently this time around. One of the things I aim to do is play the game. Not obsessively — I’ll never be that guy — but a little bit. Learn the names; meet the faces; submit to the awards and the grants; attend the shows.
You gotta play the game.
2026 01 31: Cement City
Just a quick note today, as I just returned from four days on the road and need to immediately jump back into studio manager duties. I had an assignment in Louisville that I drove down to, planning to attempt some personal work both on the way down and back. The way down did not go as planned due to the large storm that rolled through the country, however, I was able to squeeze in a bit of personal Illinois Wandering time on the return trip. New photos and plenty of new ideas.
The job went fine, however, it also left a terrible taste in my mouth and has me even more demoralized about my role as a photographer. Long story short: the agency sent along a contract for me to sign while I was already on my way down, thus had zero time to review it. Of course, the contract is one of those “we get all the rights and you can’t use the images for anything, plus you’re somehow finanically liable if anything goes wrong” kinda contracts. I left it in limbo, shot the project, and now I’m home stressing about it and needing to resolve things. Yet another example of why I picked my focus for the year: boring backend tasks. I ignored the legal/logistical side of things because I was more focused on hitting the road and making some new work, and now here we are, suffering the consequences.
Oh yeah, I said this would be a short post!
The only thing I wanted to share was a podcast recommendation! A worthwhile podcast recommendation!
Cement City is an amazing project and shining example of what is possible through longterm dedication to a project. I’m seven episodes in, which I listened to while wandering the small towns of Illinois as a perfect backdrop. I both highly recommend giving it a listen and have been inspired to push my own life towards making a piece that ressonates as much as Cement City has for me.
2026 01 19: Controlled Chaos
This is a visual representation of what my life feels like lately: semi-controlled chaos; rules & regulations; logistics & confusion; planning & plotting.
2026 01 17: Virtual Scouting
The last few days, in my spare time, I’ve been watching a youtube channel from a guy who explores places and does a really nice job of explaining the history and interesting angles (while being super enthusiastic about simple things which also get me excited inwardly). I’ve been enjoying them specifically because it feels a bit more “productive,” in the sense that I’m using the videos as virtual scouting trips covering places I aim to explore and photography myself in the coming years. The videos specific videos are covering areas in UP Michigan, but they also very much remind me of a lot of my own Ill Wandering trips over the last few years.
More on all of these thoughts another day, but for today, here’s a photo from Lincoln, Illinois (which also reminded me I need to dust off, finish, and post my “Plan for a New Illinois” proposal. So much to do…