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.