Chicago Shoot

While I was in Chicago, Sarah organized a mini-workshop for her interns and other interested photographers. We had a "lecture" for a few hours, then went off to shoot in an adorable little town in Chicago (actually, I honestly don't know where it was, but I assume it was in Chicago :D)
We had a fabulous time running through the streets - we were seriously jumping in the middle of the road, climbing on newspaper stands and dumpsters, and using anything we could find as a backdrop. I don't think I have ever had such plain ol' fun at a shoot.

The light was perfect, the models knew what they were doing, everyone was helping each other - we were basically better when we were all together...

Better Together
Jack Johnson

There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard

No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams;
And they are made out of real thingsLike a shoe-box of photographs
With sepia-tone lovingLove is the answer
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like "Why are are we here?"
"Where do we go?" and "How come it's so hard?"
It's not always easy
And sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing,
It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, It's always better when we're together Yeah, we'll look at them stars and we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight,

But, I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light singsAnd brings new thingsFor tomorrow night, you see,
That they'll be gone, tooToo many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams
Might find their way
Into my day-to-day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
Only two,
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to beWe'll sit beneath the mango tree, now Yeah, It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between togetherI believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleepAnd now when, when I wake up,
you look so pretty sleeping next to meBut there is not enough time,
There is no, no song I could singAnd there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thingWe're better together

...

ha!

My dad has a wonderful gift of writing, especially poems. I was going through piles of his poems the other day and this one just made me laugh so hard! So, I am sharing it with the world as a small tribute to my newfound love of big cities - Chicago and New York!

Voices Fade Away
Alan Snyder

Large clouds roll up in the sky

And then crash down upon me. I grab onto old memories to brace myself, But they pull me through waves of endless space. I look out beyond this dream And see faces, People watching me and calling to me. But the clouds cover them, too, Though I still hear them calling. As the voices begin to fade away I'm lonely, And I can't help but sit and wonder If I'm trying too hard to write this poem

And - I have a sad little story. I mistakenly shot all of the Chicago photoshoot in RAW without a small JPEG, so has taken me a bit longer to get these up because I have to convert them all. Sad, right?