©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
Who knew that a Whole Foods grocery bag could function as a sled? I was with my kids when we passed by a snowhill that triggered the phenomenon known as “scream-at-Dad-until-he-caves”. We didn’t have a sled in the van, so I went hunting for a cardboard box. Of course, you can never find a floppy cardboard box when you really need one, so I looked at the bags in our cargo area and thought “hmmm..” The experience of all of us happily walking up a snowhill with grocery bags was priceless. My kids were too young to care what people thought, and I enjoyed the free ride.
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
I was a vulture today. At least that was the term used by a police officer. He and I were both watching a group of television cameramen and reporters surround a couple as they left the scene of a triple murder in the suburbs. I wasn’t a part of the group, although I easily could have been. I had been photographing people’s reactions, such as the man above in what was a very heartbreaking scene. Even though I was out there with everyone else, waiting to find whatever tidbit of information we could find, I didn’t see a picture in that one mob so stepped away. So the officer muttered “…vultures..”, and truth be told, I saw it too. At face value, either in movies or in real life, it is ugly. And I struggle with it. There is another side, of course. If there were no photos to show the emotion of a scene, news such as this would have less capacity to arouse the body politic to action, and to ask countless questions that urgently matter, such as, is the killer on the loose? Was the home invasion random or part of a pattern? Is the community safe? Emotional pictures are like an alarm bell to pay-attention-to-this-one. They encourage connection, empathy, concern, and hopefully action. Having said that, there is such a thing as too much. Both in process and result. Invasive. Gratuitous. Insensitive. I’m sure there are countless stories of this, and I won’t seek to defend them. I’m not alone in trying to balance the need to get information out quickly, with the need to respect someone’s emotional space in a public setting. My television colleagues have pressures that I don’t fully appreciate, but those I respect also struggle with it. Perhaps I should take the advice of a different police officer who said later, “you’re just doing your job.” In the end, this post is not meant to be a confession, a defense, or an appeal for absolution. It’s just a statement of fact. I felt like a vulture today. And I’ll never get used to it.
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
A door from the patrol car driven by Chicago Police Officer Alan Haymaker rests on the side of Lake Shore Drive after his vehicle slammed into the side of a tree. Haymaker did not survive the crash, which occurred while he was enroute to a burglary. The exact cause of the crash is being investigated, but icy weather contributed to it. The Tribune had a full story about him on its breaking news website. After photographing the accident, I accompanied the reporter who interviewed the officer’s pastor at his northwest side church. The picture of Haymaker that emerged from that interview and others was both humbling and inspiring – of someone who served the needs of those around him, as an officer, friend, neighbor, and father – at sometimes great risk, but always as a reflection of his Christian faith. I had just been talking with my wife about how much our society is owed by people who live and serve others in quiet, unassuming ways. This morning I heard one such description and it gave me pause. That seemed to be Haymaker’s mission and heart.
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
Every so often the museums offer free days, weeks, etc.. for visitors. This week is one such week for the Shedd. Of course, if you want to have a personal encounter with the Belugas in the “Beluga Encounter Habitat” it will set you back a couple hundred dollars, which is why I offer this up-and-close shot to you during a press visit to the Oceanarium. “Assignment Chicago” – saving you money since 2009….:-)
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
A view of the ongoing demolition of Cabrini-Green buildings in Chicago. However bad the crime was in some public housing – and it was quite bad according to photographers here at the Trib many years ago – it is still a gut-wrenching site to see homes torn down. The painted apartment walls in the buildings hint at the pride that some of the residents took in their dwellings. Over the last decade I’ve been to Cabrini on assignment several times, and althought I’ve had run-ins with gang members, I was struck by the communitarian ethos among some of the residents struggling to raise their kids properly and to live a normal life. At one point I was standing with a group of moms with painter’s pants, brushes and caps, painting their lobby a bright red color. On the other side of the lobby were young, able-bodied kids with bandannas over their faces, running around in a pack, as if they were trying to avoid getting caught. It was fairly evident in that moment that no matter of paint could rescue a building crumbling from within.
©2010 Alex Garcia
Snow sculptures of various cultural figures and figments of imagination dotted the side of the road along South Michigan Avenue, compelling me to grab the kids for a visit. Among others, there was a dancing elephant, a mohawked-figure, a grandfather clock and what appeared to be an exuberant Oprah. I was off the clock, but that creative need to make photographs keeps right on going, even at a family outing. (Fodder for another conversation….) It didn’t take long for an image to happen – a woman saw this sculpture of a seeming religious figure and dropped to her knees. She was having fun, but was she also sincere? Not sure. As a photographer having fun that day, I can indulge the luxury of mystery. (BLOG UPDATE. My friend Margaret talked to the creator of this sculpture. It’s of a Chinese opera star – not a deity. Too funny!)
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
After a recent early morning blaze on Chicago’s west side, firefighters wore headlamps to find their way during an investigation of a burned-out building. Their bluish lights moved this way and that in the darkness, so there was a co-mingling of light and shadow that kept my interest. There wasn’t much to shoot so I felt free to photograph more creatively. The strong amber light from the streetlamps were more interesting left warm than color balanced. If you’ve ever lit these situations with direct flash, you’ll know what I mean when I say the results can be just awful-looking if you shoot it straight. I composed, focused and hoped for the silhouette which finally came amidst the mysterious exchanges between the investigators.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
It’s rare to get rooftop access for a fire, especially for one that overlooks a restaurant whose destruction had created such buzz in the city. The Costa’s Restaurant in Greektown was a beloved place for many. You know there were many memories contained within the walls of the restaurant, all punctuated with the flaming cheese exclamation “O-pa!” But a midnight fire in the kitchen put an end to any future joy when it didn’t stop burning for hours (no one was hurt). I arrived in the early morning and shortly after saw this rooftop as a possible vantage point. A security guard for the building pointedly refused access when I asked for it, but when I saw a resident walking her “yip-yip” dog I asked to tag-along upstairs as her visitor. Even with the roof access, I was still shooting this with my arms extended to shoot out over the overhang. We were up on the roof for maybe a minute or so before the security guard came up and said the owner wanted us to leave. By that point, my host and I got what we were looking for.
©Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
So the assigning editor in the morning tells me to check out a mass yoga demonstration at Union Station that would involve commuters. It sounded like it had some photographic potential in terms of “real people doing real things”, but when I got there, the overwhelming public relations nature of the event was plainly evident. The event was to promote a financial services website. Of course, newspapers often cover events that have an overwhelming public relations nature to them. Or as some cynics like to say “Slow news day, huh?” Sometimes the editorial response to a business promoting an event is “buy an ad”. In this case, I stayed awhile trying to focus on people who seemed to be real commuters caught up in the blue shirt frenzy. It didn’t seem like there were many interested to partake, and I felt the pressure of leaving for my next assignment. After deciding to shoot from the second floor, I finally found a moment that would be real enough – a man in a tie struggling to keep up. I come down to get his name only to find out he was a marketing executive helping to organize the event. ARGGH!
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
A staff employee at a Chicago Christian Industrial League shelter, left, says goodbye to a Haitian evacuee before a CTA bus transports about 25 Haitian evacuees to the airport for a flight to New York after an overnight stay at the shelter. The evacuees all had dual citizenship. So many thoughts running through my mind about this. I was happy for everyone who were still alive and made it to the States, where most of them live. I was sad too for all that they had gone through, many of them losing family members under tragic conditions that shocked the senses. I was, honestly, a wee frustrated that we did not send a reporting team to the biggest humanitarian disaster in our hemisphere, given the marshalling of resources by other corporations throughout the city. I am afraid that Haiti will drop off the radar of news pages everywhere, even as there are still bodies in the streets. Coming back to the photo, I am encouraged by the connections perfect strangers can make who are of racial, generational, and geographic differences. Sometimes it takes just a simple and honest click of personalities, as it did here, to remind me that we are not very far apart from each other as human beings.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
When this photo blog (almost 100 posts ago) first got going last year, I wasn’t quite sure what kind of pictures to post, and whether I could keep up the quality of the images on a regular basis. As I have been looking back at the last year, I think it was a mistake not to include this image from a Boys and Girls Club event. It had a community journalism feel to it, and I was wanting to create a different vision or look for the photo blog. But what has emerged over time through the blog is a desire to have images that can connect and uplift with you the readers. In doing so, it helps me to be inspired. Given some of the negative stuff that comprises news, I think most of us news consumers need a steady dose of positivity. The activities of the Boys and Girls Clubs are very inspiring, and the fun expressions of these boys was fun to experience and to photograph.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
One of the benefits of going through the gauntlet of contest deadlines in January is the self-review of one’s past year as a photographer. You look back and get a chance to see what went well, what didn’t, and where you could have done better. The photo above was a favorite from last year, that was largely unseen since it appeared in an online slideshow for a couple seconds. It was taken from within a bus in which a couple dozen Mexican nationals were being deported for illegal immigration. The light coming from the window was the sunrise, giving them a last look of Chicago before they were flown to the border. Everyone’s story was different. Some were painfully uprooted. Others were happy to get a free trip home, determined to return. But the picture was a quiet moment – whether for contemplation, or calculation…
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
For several years, I worked in Southern California where snow was pretty much a matter of choice. If you wanted that experience, you could head to the mountains. If not, you could stay at the beach. By most measures, pretty nice (ok Facebook friends, you can stop reminding me:-) ) . But there is a benefit of life interrupted by snow. For one, both its beauty and difficulty bring perfect strangers together on a regular basis by providing an easy way to initiate conversation – e.g. “what a day, huh?”. But the more unexpected and lovely is when you find yourself in a “found time” moment when you are allowed to simply watch a gentle snowfall. With the slow rocking of a train as it moves its way down the rails, the entrancing effect is heightened. I watched a person in the next car over as they engaged in such a moment, wondering if their experience was peaceful as well…
©2010 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
My brother was recently in Thailand, where he rode an elephant through its beautiful countryside. I’ve never been to Thailand, but I can say that I rode an elephant at O’Hare Airport - the Elephant Beta. It’s the name of a specialty truck with a cherry picker and hoses that United Airlines uses to de-ice airplanes. For a story, I was allowed to photograph from the heated glass booths atop where operators are protected from being splashed by the propylene glycol. It was actually a lot of fun. Because the goal is to quickly and aggressively remove ice from airplanes, it felt like we were inside a robot playing a version of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em – hosing, splashing, moving left and right, blowing snow. All that was missing was a voice from the corner yelling “body blow! body blow!” It was a workout for me too. I was stuffed in behind the seat of the ramp serviceman, bent over doing squats for twenty minutes while being thrown left and right against the walls of the enclosed cab. But hey, I was smiling the whole time.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
I guess the coffee cup on the billboard is of cold comfort for these commuters. Heh.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
Friends grieve the loss of two loved ones overcome by an early morning fire on Chicago’s west side. The details of the story are sad, awful, beyond which any of us would want to experience. In this case, the man at right tried to save his brother and mother but was overcome by smoke and was prevented from doing so. At the end of the day, there were facial expressions, voices, sounds, and raw emotions that didn’t get conveyed through my 4×6 prism and yet would linger in the mind of any person with any humanity. All I can hope for in witnessing such grief is that there is some beneficial purpose to the pictures that would be made manifest in those who would share in their pain. I lean on this, hope for this, pray for this.
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
The first baby from the Chicago area in 2010 is lit from a window at Stroger Hospital. According to the hospital, the child was born at the stroke of midnight. Another child was born at St. Joseph Hospital some ten seconds later. Good people can disagree as to how you actually time these things, since I don’t know if their clocks were precision set by Greenwich Mean Time, or whether Price Waterhouse representatives were observing the proceedings. But let’s not spoil this child’s moment with talks of baby gamesmanship. A new smile has entered the world. A miracle is born. Happy 2010!
©Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs announces the start of a Christmas shopping spree for 30 high-achieving but needy children who live in CHA homes. His “Briggs for Kids” charity gives out $200 gift cards each from Target. Although not all the kids knew exactly what he did for the Bears – “are you a running back?” – my guess is they won’t ever forget the experience. As a child at about their same age, I was given the opportunity to meet Walter Payton, Bob Avellini, Gary Fencik and other Bears players in their locker room after practice. I still remember being grabbed and whipped around playfully by Vince Evans. My guess is that years after their toys fall apart, their clothes are too small, and their games lose their appeal, these kids will still remember thirty years later the Bear-size hug and handshake from a real live action hero.
©Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
I’m always on the lookout for interesting locations in Chicago, so a friend told me to check out a tunnel connecting underground train lines that go through the Loop. The vanishing point and the lights made for an interesting background, so like many situations, I waited for I-don’t-know-what to happen in order to make an interesting picture. Without a person of interest, the image is only valuable to a location scout. So I waited, and waited. I get self-conscious when being stared at within crowds of people, so waiting is not a lot of fun. When you’re standing in the middle of a crowd you get a ton of stares and often a few comments. But you also don’t want to give up early, or rationalize an early departure just to relieve discomfort. At some point, this masked figure came through. I looked at the screen at the back of my camera and thought, well, the totality of the image is surreal enough – there’s something storm-trooper-science-fictionish to it. And it piqued my visual interest more than anything else that morning. So I went back to my day. It could have been just my rationalization talking, but judgment calls given limited time are a part of the business…
©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
A Chicago firefighter surveys the activity of an early morning blaze on the south side of the city. No one was seriously hurt. By the time I arrived, the fire was out – a common situation, if you saw my previous post on the subject. After shooting what I could of the home, I tried to grab a few frames of the steam and visible breath surrounding the firefighters. The experience of scanning a crowd of people to photograph must be similar to what casting agents do when they audition talent. Sometimes a person’s face or expression has a cinematic quality that makes you want to stare a little bit longer. That was the case with this firefighter, whose expression left me wondering. Is it fatigue, sadness, seriousness, or something altogether different…?
