I've really loved doing street photography, and it's something that's kind of not rejuvenated
my career because I've always been like a super crazy workaholic.
But early in my career, I've been a newspaper photographer since the late 80s, and, you know,
I've been trained to pretty much have everything have a moment, or have there be some sort
of reason to take the photo, you know?
And being a newspaper photographer, we don't do a good job of covering everyday life.
It's either like the highs of someone's life or the lows.
It's either a funeral or it's a graduation ceremony.
Never once has the Tribune said, hey, go to someone's kitchen and photograph someone
just doing nothing, or just go down to the street.
We really need a photo of a guy smoking, you know, so it can never really kind of happen.
So I really saw no value really in street photography for a long time.
I enjoyed it, and one of my great influences early in my career was Gary Winningrad.
But I never personally went out and did street photography because I didn't see a point.
I'm like, well, where is this going to run?
Who's going to publish this?
What, why?
And so when the kind of the whole iPhoneography craze started, I saw other people doing it.
I still wasn't really that into it.
But late in 2012, I was on a college visit with my daughter Betsy, who's here.
End up Betsy.
I want to embarrass you.
There's my daughter Betsy.
So we were in Washington, D.C., and Betsy had an iPhone, and I had a blackberry.
And so I borrowed Betsy's iPhone and downloaded the Hipposomatic app, and we were staying
in Chinatown, and there were some, you know, just great, gritty people around.
And so I started shooting with the Hipposomatic with her phone, and I was like, this is incredible.
Because the Hipposomatic app and the way that it processes, obviously, is a little bit kind
of, you know, I'll get into that later.
Okay, well, anyways, but the thing I like about it, the way is that it almost seems
like it's a telephoto wide angle, you know, it compresses everything, it's everything's
kind of, you know, in focus, and it's a totally different feel and a different look.
And I would say maybe 10 years earlier, the whole shooting from the Hipp thing started
for me because I would photograph kids a lot.
And kids are always looking directly at the camera.
And so, so I started shooting without the camera to my eyes, so if they looked me in
the eye, I would, you know, they wouldn't, because I hate camera awareness.
And so I started doing street photography with my big camera, and, you know, was like
a super big 35 millimeter, trying to focus and expose on the fly.
And so the iPhone was great, because it just kind of freed me from having to worry about
any of the kind of specifics of the exposure or the shutter speed.
And so the one thing I really like is that I have no control over the images.
People are always trying to send me apps that are like, hey, you might like this app because
this will control the shutter speed, you know, like, I don't have any interest in that.
I like the kind of serendipity that happens, you know, when the camera kind of takes control.
And I would never do it at the newspaper when I actually have to make a photo that means
something.
But for iPhone photography, it's perfect, because, you know, I want there to be kind
of a little bit of, you know, randomness to it.
And I think a lot of these frames, especially shooting from the hip, things pop up that
I never really imagined.
And the whole street photography world is a bizarre world.
I remember when I first started doing it, I posted something on some street photography
site on Flickr, I think, and man, it was the meanest bunch of people I've ever seen
in my life.
They were just like, they were horrible, you know, it was just like, you can't do that,
you can't photograph a homeless person, you can't photograph a sign, you can't do this,
that's too cheap.
You know, and it was just like, there were all these rules that were like, no, no, no,
and I'm like, what is this?
And I remember someone linked to one of my daily posts on shooting from the hip.
So it was like, maybe I went out for half an hour, and I photographed, you know, whatever,
and I put five or six photos up there, and then people are coming and like, this is crap.
I can't believe the Chicago Tribune would show this work as street photography, you
know, it was just like, dudes, you know, I'm a sensitive person, I've hurt my feelings.
So I've kind of tried to stay away from the street photography crowd because, I don't know,
they just seem to be angry lots for some reason, but.
So I tend to shoot a lot of stuff that, you know, you shouldn't shoot, you know, I photograph
homeless people, you know, I photograph, you know, I love bus shelters with advertisements,
you know, it's just like all the stuff that you're not supposed to do, I love to do, and
I know there was something on Facebook a while back, it was like a little kind of tongue
in cheek, you know, 20 things, not to photograph, you know, as a street photographer, 19-20,
or like the bulk of my work, you know, but pretty much, you know, if people ask me what
I do, I walk around Chicago and I push a button, that's basically it, you know, I think everything
pretty much happens, and then this is most photography, like all the hard work is done
before you make the photo, you know, it's kind of getting in position, it's, a lot of it
too is kind of seeing things come together, you know, when I'm walking down the street,
you know, I'm just kind of like, okay, here comes a woman, she's got a great afro, okay,
here comes a kid with a balloon, you're like, oh wait, there's a bus shelter, you know,
and like everything comes together, you know, for maybe a split second, and then you kind
of move on, and you know, because I feel that my entire career in the newspapers, I'm shooting
for other people, you know, I'm shooting for my editors, I'm shooting for the readers,
you know, I kind of have this another set of rules and things like that, and when I
started doing iPhone street photography, this is like me, this is how I see the world, and
sometimes I'm afraid to do that at my job, sometimes I'm afraid to be free with my work,
because I'm afraid someone's going to say, you can't do that or something, you know,
but for me, this is like very liberating, just to kind of have, you know, my vision
of the world out there, and to have that kind of happen with Instagram and Facebook, and
you know, it's so great to like walk down the street, take a photo, post it on Instagram,
and then, you know, five seconds later, someone in Japan likes it, it's just crazy, you know,
it's just like, it's just amazing, because when I first started out in photography, you
could see my photos two ways, you could subscribe to the Daily Calumet, or I could come to your
house and show you my photos, you know, those were like the two ways, and so this is, you
know, maybe people would prefer going back to those days, so they wouldn't have to see
all my photos on Instagram, you know, but I just think it's amazing, and I just love
the quirky, the weird, strange, you know, just, you know, there's, if you just walk
down the street and really look, you know, because I think sometimes we tend to be in
our own world, and we don't really observe daily life, but if you just look, there's
so many amazing things, and when I'm doing street photography, it's like my head almost
explodes, there's so much, you know, to photograph, and just so many things going on, and you
know, Chicago's a great city too, you know, like Tyra said, this is all work that's shot
within kind of walking distance of this gallery, but a lot of other stuff is not, and I'm
such a creeper too, it's like, I mean, there's nothing better than American girl dolls, man,
I love it, you know, these like little girls walking down the street with their dolls just
like it, and, you know, because that's another kind of thing about shooting from the hip
street photography, it is kind of weird, you know, it's just like, you know, I'm stealing
moments, like I said over there, you know, it's like I'm stealing souls for the purpose
or whatever, you know, I want to document what life looks like, and if I would like
walk down the street and see this girl and say, excuse me, are you the parent of this
girl?
Yes, okay, I'm a street photographer and I would like to photograph her with her doll,
but I don't want her to see me, I want her to pretend I'm not there, and so I'm going
to run back down the block, a half block, and then you're walking towards me, I'm going
to come towards you and take a picture, but don't look at me because I want to, you know,
that's impossible, you know, so I'd rather be like a creep and a stalker than have to
do that because there's so many great moments, and, you know, no one's ever seen me photograph
them with an iPhone ever because there'll be photos occasionally where they're looking
directly at my camera, but it's not because they know I'm taking a photo, I think they're
just kind of looking, you know, that's where they happen to be looking, but when I was
using my big camera for street photography, people still would not know I was photographing
them, but the people walking behind me would see me, and like being the Midwestern values
people have, they'll be like, I see what you're doing there, I'm like, what? I see what you're
doing, oh yeah, I'm taking photographs, but, you know, but your camera's like down there,
I see what you're doing, and, you know, so like, I would say maybe once every couple
of weeks that it happened, and one guy, he got so mad at me that he pushed me into Michigan
Avenue, you know, because he like was so horrified that I would be photographing other people
without their permission, and you know, that's cool, you know, that's your, not the pushing
the street part, but, you know, if that's your opinion, that's great, you know, it's
just kind of, you know, it is what it is, but I, you know, I just think there's no way
around it, I think to really document real life, people can't know that you're photographing
them, because whenever I'm being photographed, I'm totally self-aware, I'm doing things
I normally wouldn't do, you know, I'm kind of, you know, hey, I don't like this side
of me, this, you know, whatever, so like, I feel even like in my newspaper job, that
is always bugged me, it's like people knowing they're being photographed and doing something
that I know they wouldn't do, so that's why, for me, this is my purest photography, it's
just kind of without, you know, question, you know, kind of, you know, what I really,
really enjoy doing, and Chicago, of course, is great, and, you know, I love the Trump
Tower, because it looks like the Emerald City, you know, kind of at the end of Wabash, and
I also love photographing from my car, which is probably breaking some sort of law, but
you know, I have a whole series of, you know, just kind of things, I love driving down
Lakeshore Drive and photographing out the window, but my, I think, my biggest pleasure of street
photography is bus shelters, I love bus shelters, I like, probably spend more time in bus shelters
than with my children, you know, it's just like, it's just like, you know, especially
when it's cold out, it's like, you know, that's where all the people are, and actually I shot
this like four hours ago, this is the greatest thing ever, this is the Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola
bubbling bus stop, which is over at Randolph and State, and if I'd have known they were
putting this up, I never would have took the job in San Francisco, I would have stayed,
you know, this is like, I probably shot like 50 frames of it before, and it's just like,
I'm like, oh man, this is fantastic, it's just so cool, so anyways, so these photos are
fresh, you know, this isn't old crap, this stuff, this was made today, and here's another
one of my, breaking the rules, you know, you can never put an ad board in a photo, sorry,
Chicago Theater, I love the Chicago Theater sign, I have a ton of that, and you can't
knock my hustle, man, you can't do it, yeah, I ended up teaching Chong, yeah, Theater,
and I also love the, she's photographing at night, you know, there's a total different
feel to it, and there's a lot of motion, and just kind of panning as I go, and the great
thing about Chicago, it's such a timeless place, you know, there's so many photographs
that you make that you like really have no idea where or when they were taken, they just
seem to be, you know, some time in the past, and of course the Picasso is fabulous, I should
give this guy some money because I photograph him all the time, but that's also I think
is bullshit, you know, it's like, you know, these street performers that are like, I'm
going to stand in public but you have to pay me to photograph them, no, no, no, no, no,
no, you're going to stand in public, I'm not giving you any money for that, this is
the air show a couple of years ago, and that's technically not street photography, this is
part of my sky photography show I'm going to be doing at some point, and the thing too
is like, I don't, like, I can't really sit here and just describe these photos because
I don't even know what to say, it's like, you know, here's a guy, I love this girl,
I like actually usually, so when I, when I photograph, I'm just shooting while I walk
and I kind of pass something and that's it, but this girl was so fabulous I kind of circled
around a couple of times, and then I felt a little guilty, so I'm like, oh, are you
a doggy?
No, I'm a rabbit, you know, and then that was it, and I'm like, okay, never mind, don't
talk to people, and also, you know, while I'm up here while I have this stage, you know
it really bugs me, when I post a color photo on Instagram and people like, oh, color, I
didn't know your camera shot color, okay, I like black and white, I like it, okay, kill
me, so I like to, well, you know, I would always like send photos from the Apple store
and use their wireless, and so I started one day just shooting, shooting the reflection
in their glass window, and I posted this one and someone said, hey dude, look, ET is in
her hair, so can you see ET?
Yeah, so I thought that was kind of cool, so anyways, this photo, like this one means
a lot to me, because this actually was in National Geographic, crazy enough, you know,
so the 125th anniversary edition National Geographic has one of my iPhone photos in
it, that's like crazy, so they did like an article on, you know, on new technologies
and photography and stuff like that, you know, the only bad thing is Ben Lowy, I don't
know if you know him, he's like a huge iPhone guy, his photo was like that big and this
one was kind of small on the bottom, but besides that, it was amazing, color, so I started
doing a couple years ago, it only lasted one year and I kind of lost interest in it, but
I started doing a neighborhood series in Chicago and I would go to different neighborhoods
and kind of just spend an hour walking around and photographing whatever I could photograph,
and so this basically, this photo was taken while I was asking permission to photograph
him because he kind of scared me a little bit and I didn't want to, you know, get him
mad at me, but the thing about the neighborhoods is it's kind of harder to blend in there,
you know, when there's only one other person coming down the street and you're there with
your camera, it's kind of hard to act like a tourist that I usually do here.
This is somewhere in the North Shore, maybe Rogers Park, I don't know really what to
say about that one, and this was in Washington Park, I believe, and sometimes I like, I'd
make these photos and like, oh shit, I should have shot that for the paper, that's actually
kind of a nice photo, and then I go, oh well, sorry, but this is from the Low Riders Festival
that happens in Pilsen, sometime in August, I think you should go out, it's pretty cool.
So another thing I've been doing this year is, it's the 100th anniversary of Wrigley
Field and so I decided I would try to make it look as depressing as possible and so,
because I'm a White Sox fan, so basically here's my collection of depressing photos
from Wrigley Field, but Wrigley Field's awesome because it's so, there's so much going on,
so this is me, I shot maybe five frames of this guy, this is like the second frame and
the third and fourth frames he started doing this, then I was like, hey dude, I'm not taking
a photo, no I'm not, I'm not taking a photo, this guy's waiting for a World Series, alright
enough with the Cubs jokes, I'm sorry, it's too easy, because the White Sox have won one
World Series in the last 90 years, whenever you can get the pitching coach, zipping up
is flying the dugout, it's always a plus one, but the light is so beautiful, and Wrigley
Field is the greatest place to photograph as a sports photographer, this would look
nice in color, I mean it, and then my fat heads in the photo too, which is not a plus,
this guy's creepy, you know the Billy Cub guy, oh my god, should turn the music back
on Tyra so I don't have to talk, and this was, I accepted a job in San Francisco when
it was foggy for the next eight days, so I think it was some sort of sign, another thing
I did recently, I would always photograph in Millennium Park because it's so great,
but even I felt cheap photographing there because it's so easy, you know, just like
everything is an amazing photo, so Todd Panagopoulos, one of my bosses at the Tribune, he came to
me like three weeks ago, before he knew I was leaving the paper, and asked if I wanted
to do an iPhone thing in Millennium Park for the 10th anniversary coming up, and I was
like absolutely, so I started posting a photo a day on my blog for a couple weeks, and some
of these are older ones, but you know, I will miss Millennium Park, Millennium Park is amazing,
I think it's the best thing Richard Daly ever did for the city, it's just fantastic.
I wrote on my blog, anyone ever see Sesame Street where the baker's falling down the stairs,
11 apple pies, no, you guys are too young, so anyways, I didn't photograph many in the
winter, it was a rough winter, you know that, so this is like one.
But the thing about my iPhone is that like, there are certain photos that I like that
I would never like with my real camera, you know, it's just kind of, I'm like super detail
oriented, and I want everything to be perfectly exposed, and sharp, and in focus, and you
know, so I've learned to kind of accept with the iPhone that that's not going to happen,
so if something's overexposed, it actually looks better, you know, and I learned that
from John Lohenstein, the great John Lohenstein, because he has like the most amazing autofocus
photos I've ever seen in my life, they're just amazing.
So what's your idea about that, John?
Are you intentionally making the amount of focus, or is that something that you, they
just, right, exactly, I want to take the crown fountain with me, or at least half of it.
It's kind of me babbling the same thing over and over again, does anyone have any questions
while I show pictures?
That might be easier.
Anyone?
Questions?
Questions?
Okay.
I'll just show more pictures.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's the Hipstimatic app, and so, it's like the only one I use, I've never used
anything else.
Yeah, so you basically, Hipstimatic, you have an array of lenses and films, and so this
combination is the John S lens, which comes with Hipstimatic, and Black Keys Supergrain
film, and so it's just a great combination, and seriously, the photos come out amazing.
They come right out of the camera amazingly, and it's just astounding how great they look.
But seriously, it's like, I pick up the camera and I push the button, and it's like, it's
no more than that.
Of course, I have to point it in the right direction, but it's just so great to kind
of free yourself from the shackles of exposure.
Yes?
Yes?
Yes?
How do you both make sure the camera is straight?
I mean, all your pictures are perfectly straight.
I mean, I try to hold my camera to hip, and I often, it often comes out crooked.
I think it's just I've been doing it so long, I can walk down the street, and I can include
everything I want in the frame from the hip, it's just so much practice, you know, and
so yeah, it's just doing it over and over and over and over again, and kind of getting
the feel for it, yeah, so it's not like these are just all the ones that were straight, you
know, they almost all seem to be straight, which is kind of amazing.
I love this one, this is one of my favorites.
So I wanted to, this was like a great, it was a great rainstorm a couple weeks ago in
Millennium Park, and it just kind of was so weird, all these people were trapped down
in the basement, it was kind of just like prisoners of the storm, yeah, that'd be great.
Oh, were there any other questions?
I'm sorry.
Yes, Guy?
Can you talk about your workflow for getting the photos off the phone and outside the computer
when you do your blocks?
Yeah, so basically I will just plug my phone into my laptop and I'll download them in
iPhoto, and then when they come down in iPhoto, then I'll drag them into another folder on
my desktop, and so, and then I'll back them up from there, I'll put them on a hard drive
or something like that, so it's like the people like who keep all their photos on their phones
and they don't back them up, like that's like the craziest thing ever.
So if you guys do that, it doesn't, you know, just seriously, download them to your computer
and back them up because, you know, just like any hard drive, your phone will eventually
die and you're not going to have your photos.
Yeah, Chris?
I've had people say, oh, I know that girl, and I definitely see a lot of the same people
walking around, and most of them are like homeless or people who kind of shuffle around with
a shopping cart or something because they're just so distinctive, but I think I do see
some like, you know, everyday people every once in a while, but most of what I usually
get is someone will come in from out of town and Tweet, say, hey, I'm going to be on Michigan
Avenue, I hope Ed Scastrozanti walks by and takes my photo, you know, which is so great,
you know, I think that's like so cool, you know, but I hate to tell them that they're
not interesting enough to be in one of my photos, so.
So I just say, oh, no, I didn't see you, I'm sorry, you know, sorry, okay, you're just
going on, going on, yes.
Hey.
You and I talked a little bit about this before, you and I talked a little bit about this before,
you know, it's just like, it's just a tool, you know, it's just like there's really, you
know, there's like this kind of almost undercurrent where people say, well, you know, a photo
taken on a phone is not a real photo and I'm caught doing that too, you know, occasionally
say, oh, I took it with my real camera, you know, and so I'm basically kind of like undercutting
what I'm trying to say, but, you know, I think it's just another tool, you know, I wouldn't
want to use it all the time, you know, I couldn't like actually have a job and just use my iPhone,
but I think there's certain situations, it's perfect, you know, at the Tribune we would
occasionally use it for portraits or, you know, Brian Castella did this amazing iPhone
series on Chicago Public Schools that it closed down, you know, and so there's certain things
where it works perfectly, you know, but there's other things where, you know, it wouldn't work
at all, but for my interaction with people, I do feel that with the iPhone I get closer
and I can kind of invade their space a little bit, so like I'm sharing intimate moments
with strangers, you know, I'm able to get in their world and just for a split second
kind of be there and then I'm gone, you know, so I think just the mobility and the portability
of it is great, so, you know, I would love that my big cameras could be smaller, you
know, and I could kind of work my way in, but, you know, for the real job then I have
to get people's names and so maybe that's another byproduct that, you know, I'm a shy
timid person and so not having to get people's names is great, you know, that's like one
of my favorite things ever, so, but I don't even know, did I answer your question at all?
Yeah, well I was just thinking about your series, you did the iPhone, where it feels like
that was very personal and very, you know, like I was in a series and I guess you can
only do the question, do you think you'll do something like that with that?
Interesting, yeah, so I think, you know, because as a new type of photographer I'm like really
respectful of my photo subjects and I want to take care of them, even though I call them
photo subjects, which really isn't the greatest thing, but what Ruddy Roy said, photo collaborators,
you know, so, so anyway, so, but the people I photograph on a daily basis, you know, I
respect them and I want to, you know, honor them, but newspaper, I mean street photography
is like the opposite, I'm just like kind of stealing things and so maybe it's like kind
of me rebelling against myself or something, you know, it's like we're all those years
of having to get names and be nice to people, here I can be a dick, you know, it's just
kind of, I'm sorry for the children out there, or Rob Hart's kids have heard it all, so, so
anyways, but, yes?
Right.
It's much easier shooting from the hip because I can see everything developing, I can see
things coming and, you know, and then I don't have to, because a lot of times, you know,
you see something, like I'm not usually, even on everyday assignments, I'm not just sitting
there looking through my viewfinder like a periscope, you know, I'm actually looking
at it and then sometimes by time I get the camera up, the moment's gone, so having that,
you know, having the camera right there and it's just like an instantaneous click is
great, so just, you know, I think I always kind of see the world coming together at
moments, but it's just faster on the trigger, I think, you know, with the iPhone and so
I think, you know, that is definitely helpful, but I don't really see a huge difference,
like I don't feel like my photos are better or worse than either thing, they're different,
you know, I think that, you know, it's not, it's not a huge difference, I don't think.
And you're centering the pictures and capturing them without actually seeing one of the cameras?
Right, right, and so which is kind of cool too, so the Hipsomatic app doesn't like
immediately show the photo, it has a little bit of a lag for the processing time, so it
almost is kind of like a little bit of the fun that dark rooms used to be where you'd
have to wait for the film to come or be processed or, you know, so there's a little
bit of magic to it, so it's not always just like instant gratification, instant gratification,
instant gratification, sometimes you actually have to wait 30 seconds to see my photo, it's like,
oh my god, did I get it, did I get it? You know, like this one here, it's like, I love this
photo and I hate this photo because, you know, my brain wants it to be a little sharper, but
I also love it and so, you know, I think that's, you know, it's actually been good for me to
kind of try to loosen up a little bit, you know, so, but the thing is I didn't know that
it wasn't super sharp until I had already walked away and the moment was gone, you know, so,
you know, with a real camera I would have shot it, you know, 50 frames of it and one would
have been sharp, but this was like, you know, one frame, which is cool, it helps, makes me
a better photographer, I think, definitely in the long run. So this is the, the
plens ahead through the bus, so this is, okay, we're off of that. Okay, so I'll whip through
these real quick, so I did this, I did this story with a 35 millimeter camera a couple
years ago where I kind of concentrated on the signs that homeless people hold, because
I think maybe starting three or four years ago, maybe a little bit earlier, you started
seeing people kind of on the expressway ramps holding cardboard signs to communicate and
then it kind of spread to the street, so where, you know, maybe 10 years ago you'd be walking
down the street somewhere and asking for money, now the majority of people just sit there
with signs and I kind of found that really fascinating and I think it would be an interesting
gallery show to photograph these people and then also maybe buy their signs and then kind
of put their signs in a gallery show next to the photos, I think that would be kind of
cool, but anyway, so when I'm doing my street photography all occasionally just kind of,
you know, snap off a couple frames of people holding signs and, you know, they're heartbreaking
and I, you know, I tend to stop and talk to almost all these people, sometimes I don't
because I'm just kind of rushing through, but, you know, it's definitely, you know, a huge
issue here and, you know, there's people everywhere in need and so it's like, I don't, I'm not
going to think that I'm actually helping at all, you know, I think awareness is good,
I'm not sure I'm doing any help, but, you know, I try to, you know, pretend like I am,
you know, but I think it's, you know, and these are the people that I know the most,
these are the people that I have the most interaction with on the streets who actually
see me coming and know me and so it's, you know, so that's good and I think a lot of times
when someone asks you for money, you don't even have to give them money, you just have
to look in the eye and say, hey dude, I can't help you out today and it's amazing how many
times I say that, like, people's face will light up just because you actually acknowledge
they were human being, you know, and I think, you know, that's important, I know you can't
give money to everyone, but at least, you know, say hi, treat them well, you know, and I think,
I think that's like, almost as important as giving them some money. You know, this woman
is always on Michigan Avenue, always her head buried in the back of her sign, I've never
once spoken to her and she's never once looked up, you know, she's there all the time.
Is there a reason why you get stuck with, oh, not yet, is there a reason why you get stuck with, you know,
that specific film pack and lens set and just because you like to look at it?
Yeah, I like the, yeah.
The body of your work or what?
A little bit of that, but mostly I just like the look of it. I've tried other combinations
and there'll be certain times too, like, there's a lens, a Lowy lens, which Ben Lowy helped
develop and I'll use that occasionally at night because the shadows are a little bit better.
Like, this tends to, like, the shadows get real blocky and dark sometimes, but in general,
I really like the look of this one and, you know, and I've never really shot this much
black and white for this extended period of time. It was, like, very rare now that I should color,
but I just like the look of it and also it's good to just kind of give that very easy theme,
you know, kind of everything kind of looks the same.
I'm not a very good editor, as you can tell. I, like, have a lot of photos here.
This is technically not, you know, this is a woman who sells art over and near the cultural center.
It should be a fabulous story.
All right, so now some other things.
This is the sandwich fare, so for several years I would go and do rooster portraits with my iPhone
and they're, it's difficult to shoot a rooster. They're not very cooperative.
But I enjoyed that.
So now I'll show you quickly some photos from, you know, the great thing about working at the Tribunus,
I would travel a ton for sporting events and I'd always carve out a little bit of time in each city
to kind of, you know, do some iPhone photography.
That's Washington, D.C., obviously.
This was on my trip out to California to drop off my daughter at UCLA last year, old faithful.
I just, you know, for some reason I love, you know, people in national parks, they're like dying to see animals,
but only for like five minutes because then all they get kind of boring.
Oh yeah, okay, there's an elk ten foot away. I'm going to just go back over here, so anyways.
This is Dallas.
Orlando, obviously.
Milwaukee, now that's a challenge to do street photography.
South Philly is great. This is South Philly. This is an accidental portrait.
I always, you know, just walking down the street and obviously she knew I didn't belong there.
This is Minneapolis, another challenge.
Is it not enough people? You know, it's just like, it's just very spaced out and I guess I don't find the people
that interesting looking because they look like me, you know, which isn't very good.
This is Charlotte, North Carolina.
Another one from Charlotte.
San Antonio.
One of the photos I like. I don't know, I just love New York City.
Brooklyn.
This is Pittsburgh. Boston.
We know that in St. Louis.
And this is now getting to the California. This is up in Northern California.
I've been to, I'm sorry, I need to take a moment.
The great John H. White has entered the room and thank you John.
I would not be standing here today if it wasn't for John H. White. His inspiration, his example, his photography.
You know, as a kid, I subscribed to the, you know, we got like three or four newspapers and, you know, just seeing John's work
even before I knew I wanted to be a photographer, it had a huge impact on me and getting to call him a friend now is the greatest.
So, really thanks for coming John, I appreciate it.
So on the way out to California and being in California with my daughter at UCLA and stuff.
Los Angeles is hands down my favorite street photography city in America.
There's just so much variety. There's so much different things.
The people are interesting and it's so easy to make photographs there.
In the Hollywood Boulevard. This was the Tigger Darth Vader standoff.
You probably read about in the paper. It was epic.
You know, and once again, like, these photos are so easy to make.
I feel like they're cheap, but I love them at the same time.
You know, anytime you get a mini Mr. T, how can you go wrong?
You know, it's like, he's the greatest.
This is from my last trip out there. This is Santa Monica Pier.
But downtown LA, of LA in LA, my favorite place is downtown LA.
And the sad thing is that it's being kind of gentrified.
They're opening up a lot of restaurants and bars and hotels and getting rid of some of the character.
This was from last year. I was there this year. This is totally gone now.
So part of it too, which is an unintended consequence, is I want my work to be kind of a historical document.
You know, kind of what does the world look like?
If you went in the Tribune Archives, you really wouldn't know what the world looked like.
You would know what it looked like when a house was burning down.
There's very few photographs we stop and make that just kind of step back.
And this is what things look like. And I know why.
People would find them boring in the paper, but looking back over time, they're super valuable.
Another thing is when you get a baby in a shopping cart, you can't go wrong.
So is the battle of little biggie horn? No, I don't know.
Once again, I think I could have edited it a little better, but they're all my favorites.
Any more questions so I can talk while I scroll?
That's my son on the left with his blackhawk shirt on, I think.
All right, I get it. You take photos with the iPhone. Good job, Scott.
More Santa Monica pier. I like doing like little subsets, you know, kind of when I'm in a place,
just kind of a whole little essay on different places.
The Santa Monica pier is pretty cool.
This is the Getty Museum. Have you ever been at the Getty Museum? Oh my God, it's fantastic.
So this is the visit to UCLA with my daughter.
And there was a dude in a full Power Ranger outfit, kind of up on the hill, and I'm like,
this is where you have to go to school, honey. This is it.
And then these final ones are from San Francisco.
I haven't really been able to spend a lot of time there.
Betsy visited Berkeley and we spent a little bit of time.
But it looks like it has potential. It looks like there's going to be interesting as the photograph.
So basically, so that closes out. So I really appreciate your time, and I know I showed a little too many photos,
but really appreciate it. So if there's any more questions, be happy to answer them.
