Photography is a source of joy I experienced and pursued over many years. Early on I inherited an old Leica camera that led me to practice basic photography; mostly shooting family pictures. As I inquired more into the medium of photography, nature photographs of the early parts of the twentieth century with pinpoint focus and subtle detail I loved to look at. However, street photography of the 1950s through the 1970s in New York and Chicago had a particular influence on me and I wanted to do it.

In the early 1980s I purchased a SLR camera and started shooting mostly the streets of my neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. During the 1990s I did little  photography due to family responsibilities. It was in 2001 that the Lord blessed me with a job downtown and afforded me the opportunity to practice my hobby right in the middle of where the “action is.” My camera was an extension to my body. It did not matter if I was on my way to work in the morning, on my lunch hour, or returning home in the evening. I was ready to raise my camera, aim, and shoot. Most of my images were taken during  lunch hour as I walked down State Street, Wabash, LaSalle, Washington, Madison, Monroe, and the other streets downtown. Elevated CTA train stations were another locale that gave me “from above” vantage point for my photography. Most of my downtown images were taken between 2002 and 2005.