“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!” And a little later you added: “You know—one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…” “Were you so sad, then?” I asked, “on the day of the forty-four sunsets?” But the little prince made no reply.” ― Antoine de Saint Exupery, The […]
Tag: memories
October 11, 2001
On October 8, 2001, an American Airlines flight was headed to Chicago. Suddenly, a passenger started screaming, “Save the Sears Tower. Save yourselves.” He was convinced the plane was headed towards the country’s tallest building and tried to break into the cockpit to stop it. The man was subdued by passengers and crew. No damage […]
Letter to Alex
September 11, 2001 was shocking for me, as it was for every American. After an emotional day, I did what I always do to process my thoughts. I wrote. Nothing even approaching this magnitude had happened in my life to that point. I felt it was important to preserve these memories for my children so […]
Work That Matters
I saw a video once titled, Brutal Truth: Nobody Cares About Your Photography. The narrator described a friend who didn’t post his photos on social media. When asked why, he said, “The truth is, nobody cares about my photography. Nobody cares about your photography. Nobody cares about anyone’s photography.” This struck a chord with me because […]
What’s In a Name?
This is a picture I took at the National Baseball Hall of Fame a few years back. It is the jersey Frank Robinson wore in his debut as baseball’s first African-American manager. And the reflection is me remembering what it was like to be 12 years old and watch him hit a home run to […]
The National
When I was a young boy, I was forbidden to cross the main street. If I was caught, there would be dire consequences, perhaps the worst things that could happen from a nine-year-old’s point of view. I would have been grounded. My father might have taken a belt to me. My favorite toys would have […]
You Might Be Surprised
In the fall of 1986, I returned to the photojournalism lab at Northern Illinois University. I was two years out of college and supporting myself by delivering pizzas while struggling to establish a foothold in the journalism profession. There had been other jobs. I caught on with Young Athlete Magazine right out of college. Young […]
Shared Burdens Make Lighter Loads
I dreamed about Alex one night. It doesn’t happen as often as you might expect. Perhaps that is for the best, because the dreams always end the same way—with the realization that Alex is no longer here. She was probably on my mind because I spent that evening editing pictures from a memorial walk held […]
How I Knew What Was in Store for Alex
In my last post, I said I knew the challenges awaiting Alex in Florida. Here’s how. In the summer of 1987, I was working for the Shoe Service Institute of America in Chicago’s Western suburbs. I edited their magazine, Shoe Service, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My boss had just announced his retirement. At their summer […]
Adventures in Parenting
In 2017, I was hired to photograph a conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. A few weeks before the conference, Alex called. “How far is Ponte Vedra Beach from Gainesville?” I looked it up—about an hour and a half. She asked if she could tag along—and if I could extend the trip by a day […]