Personal posts

Posts on architecture, obsessions, photography, poems, visits to art exhibits, essays, family, and or things about me organized under art, home, and work.

  • Writing Down Who I Am

    Recently I published this: Statement of Personal Ethics, Potential Biases, and Possible Conflicts of Interest in order to explicitly state— for me and anyone interested in interacting with me— who I am. What moves me, where I’m coming from, how I get my money. Who I am in league with, and why. All of these…

  • Easter Morning for an Urban American Catholic in an Age of Misplaced Catholic Energy

    I am a lifelong urban American Catholic, and I am not going anywhere. That’s my message to the extremists in my religion who have strayed from our core principles of tolerance, labor, and love to focus on exclusion, doctrine, and shame.  My experience of Catholicism in the cities of Pittsburgh and Chicago over the last…

  • Deserted Charlestowne Mall

    There are lots of great photo essays of that most modern of detritus: the suburban mall. Here are some pics of a mall in the middle. Not abandoned, but not thriving. More than half empty, but full of current holiday decorations. Damp mustiness but not utter emptiness. Contains current candy. This is the Charlestowne Mall…

  • Lincoln Marsh in Macro

    Here’s some nature pics I took last week with my new macro lens. See full set here and also wider-format set of Lincoln Marsh in Early Spring/ After the Burn. I always thought pics of this detail were beyond me. Turns out it’s all about lens, lens, lens. I had no idea there was a…

  • Lincoln Marsh, Early Spring 2012: After the Burn

    Lately I have been documenting the Lincoln Marsh natural area through the seasons. Lincoln Marsh is a natural area nestled along the Illinois Prairie Path between Wheaton and Winfield. It is maintained by the Wheaton Park District, and they do a really great job with it. I got there this week shortly after a controlled…