"I stay in Chicago because it’s really shitty, it’s really America. I stay here because of the indifference, not in spite of it. I know who I am anyway. And I know who they are. I was never confused about my own idiosyncratic behavior. It’s the only thing I’ve got, for God’s sake. Why should I lose it in the turmoil of acceptance in New York? Who am I then?"
- Theodore Halkin
Union Station, Chicago 1991
Future Darkroom Notes for Past Negatives
Chicago 1991
The Preacher
Chicago 1991
Future Darkroom Notes for Past Negatives
Chicago 1991
I Remember Robert Frank
Daley Plaza, Chicago 1991
Chicago 1991
Ward, Geneva, IL
Chicago 1991
Chicago 1991
Grant Park, Chicago 1991
North Ave. Beach, Chicago 1991
North Ave. Beach, Chicago 1991
North Ave. Beach, Chicago 1991
Future Darkroom Notes for Past Negatives
Chicago 1991
Rogers Park Beach, Chicago 1991
Chicago River, Facing East
Chicago 1991
Future Darkroom Notes for Past Negatives
Chicago 1991Wells St., Chicago 1991
Ten Year Photography Vow Begins
December 25, 1991 - December 25, 2001
I attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb from 1987-1991, where I studied philosophy and history. I was fortunate to meet David in a philosophy course taught by Professor Brown. Halloween 1988 David had a party at his apartment and it was there I met Ward Smith. Ward worked at the local GE factory and outside work practiced painting, music, and writing. We became fast friends and I began to spend my weekends at his home in Cortland. I knew nothing of the visual arts and I recall being intrigued by one of his paintings, a building drawn at unusual angles and illuminated with vibrant color. We sometimes hiked at nearby Shabbona Lake, taking in the views of the prairie landscape as we drank from a canteen filled with red wine.
When I graduated in the spring of 1991 I returned to the suburbs of Chicago, faced with the task of finding something to do which would pay money. I worked nights part time loading trucks while job hunting during the day. Thursdays were my favorite day because I would take a commuter train to Chicago to pick up the free Reader newspaper, which had a small section of classified job ads. I did not expect to find a job through the Reader, thus the main reason for my journey to the city was to wander about the streets with a camera.
It was on one of these intense, anti-lush Thursday adventures that I found my Yashica camera empty of film. I was on the north side, wandering about in the Belmont and Broadway neighborhood (Lakeview), when by chance I found Triangle Camera shop. I walked inside and saw a beautiful, young raven-haired girl standing behind the counter. I purchased two rolls of Tri-X black and white film and as I stood at the counter I noticed a flier advertising the Triangle Camera darkroom Saturday "night owl" sessions, 9:00pm-2:00am, costing $15. At that time my experience of darkroom work was limited to the student darkroom at Northern Illinois University, where I had spent a few days working during my final semester. I asked the counter girl about the darkroom and she told me she managed the night owl session and that I was welcome to join.
The following Saturday I drove thirty miles to the city and attended my first night owl session. The darkroom was in the basement of Triangle Camera and had been built the year before, the room and equipment thus being clean and new. I saw the shop girl and said hello and she told me her name was Leigh Loranger. She handed me a tote basket filled with various items (filters, easel, film carrier and enlarger lens) and walked me to a printing station. I chose to print without using an easel, placing the paper directly onto the baseboard of the enlarger. Leigh found this interesting and asked what I knew about printing. I told her I was a beginner and she mentioned that she had recently graduated from college with a degree in photography. Later in the night I was working on a negative I had recently exposed during one of my Thursday wanderings, a picture of a military parade at Daley Plaza. When Leigh saw the print coming to life in the developer tray she let out a soft gasp and said "Oh, your photo reminds me of Robert Frank!" I did not know who Robert Frank was so I made a note to learn about his work.
I continued to attend the night owl sessions as summer turned to autumn and I continued to see Leigh there. One night Leigh and I were the only ones remaining at 2:00am and as Leigh set the alarm she asked me to follow her out the back entrance which led us to a small, dark courtyard behind the building. The only way out was to climb a chain link fence and exit through the side alley. As I watched Leigh hoist herself up and over the fence I realized the new path of photography I was following was leading me to interesting and strange adventures and I liked it.
In October, 1991, I found a job listed in the Reader for a financial publisher called Morningstar, located in downtown Chicago. By this time I was beginning to realize that film photography was something which I loved to do and if I could land a job downtown I could then move into the city and continue my photography adventures, both on the streets and in the Triangle Darkroom. I mailed a resume and a week later received a phone call from Morningstar. I had been searching for a full time job for six months and was becoming a bit desperate, and thus was relieved and excited when I was offered a full time position in their circulation department.
Around the same time Leigh told me she was moving to New York City, Brooklyn, to work as an assistant to a professional photographer. I was sad to hear this because Leigh was teaching me so many things about photography. She had invited me to a photography exhibit which included one of her photographs and I invited Ward to come along with me. At the exhibit Ward and I watched as Leigh was awarded first prize for her photo, which inspired Ward to make a beautiful pen drawing of Leigh accepting her award. As Leigh's departure to New York neared she approached me one night in the darkroom and mentioned that Mike, the owner of Triangle Camera, was going to need someone to manage the darkroom on Saturday nights. I had attended most Saturday sessions during the past few months and Leigh could sense my dedication to photography and thus she recommended me to Mike, who soon after met with me and offered me the position, which I accepted.
In 1993 a studio apartment became available in the Triangle Camera building and Mike asked me to move into it, so as to make it easier for me to work in the darkroom. I signed the lease and lived and worked in the building until leaving Chicago in the summer of 1997.
I Remember Leigh Loranger, I
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, II
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, III
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, IV
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, V
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, VI
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, VII
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, VIII
Chicago 1991
I Remember Leigh Loranger, IX
Chicago 1991
