I was a lonely kid. I remember in the early 80s turning the key to my mom's front door and wishing I’d open it to find a house full of people. But it was just me in the afternoons. I had no siblings, my parents were divorced, and my mom worked a corporate job to support us. I spent after school watching cartoons or playing video games alone.
I've always been fascinated by people and their unique narratives. I am dangerously curious and want to try everything. We only have so many years on this planet, so it's impossible to try everything unless you are lucky enough to experience a slice of life through candid conversations daily. I've hosted for The Travel Channel, NowThis, and Thrillist and fell in love with energetic interactions and the wealth of knowledge you can gain in just a few minutes from interviewing someone.
Arrogance is underrated. Period. It takes something to make your way out to New York, let alone be an artist out here. I'm in love with New York. I've dreamt of New York since I was a teen, even though Chicago will always be home. I've always had confidence border lining arrogance, or so I've been told. This city kind of pushes you over that line, and for good reason. You are a speck in a sea of voices within a small sliver of an island of the world that is called, Manhattan.
It's been a minute. July is here and city/country life, is opening up. Still running around, grinding it out, I've been thinking on this issue for weeks now and how to approach it. There's a place beyond the actual image, if you're willing to let yourself go and travel there. To lose one's sense of Self in the moment, to be completely removed.
If you’ve ever downloaded an app, looked at a billboard, clicked on a website banner, or have interacted at all with an advertisement (chances are you have), then you’ve seen work come out of advertising agencies, digital publishers, publications, tech start-ups, or just about any institution that creates work on behalf of a brand or product. Behind all of those experiences is a producer who enables teams, manages budgets, and ensuring the pipeline of creativity and delivery isn’t disturbed. Sometimes an underrated, or simply misunderstood role, most creatives team will tell you how invaluable their producers are and what they have helped them be able to do.
I'm 16 years old and look over to my father on the other side of the pool table, “I’m going to be a music teacher.” His response was classic, "Aleks my Son nooo. You’re not going to make An-E Mahhhhhhne.” ...
My model gives me a blank stare as if it to say, "Is that it?" Mother gives me a glance, and by Mother and I mean Russ, my right hand man. He gingerly pulls me a side to talk technical, but what he really is saying as he whispers into my ear, "Maybe we take a few more, yeah?"
Incongruity is underrated if you ask me. The bizarre, absurd, the playful. I love a photo, or any other art form for that matter, that makes me laugh, gasp, takes my breath away, that makes me weep. Photography is more than something pretty to look at it. It draws you in, gets you thinking, lingers like a lovers perfume on your lapel, hours after an engagement.
