Jeff roamed the city seeing things to photograph that did not fit into any category.
I used to pick my father up after work, and drive him home, One day, as we approached Chicago Avenue, I saw this scene, this light and these people, The bar shown featured called itself “Home of the Boll Weevil,” apparently a special drink. I pulled the car over, and said “I have to take this picture!” and made two frames on the old Kodachrome 1.
When making a Cibachrome, I used a grain magnifier and discovered a political poster for the original Mayor Daley in the window of the bar. Over the years, I’ve made a number of prints of this image; black and white and color. There is just something about it that I like. I imagine that these buildings are long gone, so this is an artifact from 1959. I recently had my friend Juan Carlos make a 16x20 of this image, and it is beautiful.
Riverview, the huge amusement park which used to be on Western Avenue had fast roller coasters, “games of skill,” and some quieter forms of entertainment. I liked this woman in the ticket booth, and recorded her for posterity. I think this picture and others in this section may demonstrate why photographers should not be the only ones editing their work. That’s because, sometimes, we know the back story on how difficult it was to make some of them., and we let that enter into our judgment. When really, the quality of the image should be the determining factor. Or, as I used to tell students, “Those people who call me a genius haven’t seen my wastebasket!”
Sometimes you just connect with your subject, This was taken on a very hot night at the Indiana State Fair. I am struck at how open she is, relaxed about having her photograph taken by a stranger. I think of how old she probably was when I took this, and how old she is today, 50 years later…74? 80? And, I thought she was cute, which is why I took this picture, only slightly related to the story I was working on.
