“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”
- Alberto Giacometti
Steffen, Chicago 1994
Diversey Harbor
Chicago 1994
Chicago River, Facing South
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
I Remember Aaron Siskind
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Carol, David, Laura, Ward, Dave, Kitty
Ward's Farm, Genoa, IL
Chicago 1994
Steffen, Genoa, IL
Chicago 1994
Ward, Genoa, IL
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Wacker Dr., Chicago 1994
North Ave. Beach, Chicago 1994
Rayograph, Chicago 1994
Ward's Farm, Genoa, IL
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
It was a random Saturday night in the Triangle Camera darkroom and I was standing at the check-in counter when I heard footsteps descending the stairs. A young woman wearing a black Yankees baseball cap with dirty blonde hair spilling to her shoulders approached with a friendly smile. I took her money and led her to an enlarger station and thus began another "night owl" printing session. I worked alongside four or five other photographers at my usual station and learned the girl's name was Hannah Maximova.
She was a recent graduate in photography from the University of Arizona, Tucson. She spoke of the beauty of the desert and when she learned I used a Hasselblad camera she called me a jerk with a sly smile upon her face. We became friends and I enjoyed writing letters to Hannah, making sure to include my latest photo prints.
One day on my lunch hour I walked to the Terra Museum of American Art on Michigan Ave to see an exhibit of Edward Weston photographs. As I wandered the gallery I crossed paths with Hannah by chance and we took in the show together. Not long after this meeting I was lounging on the grass promenade adjacent the Wrigley Building and the Chicago River at 5:30pm, eating a late lunch and in the middle of my shift for Morningstar (I worked 2:30pm-10:30pm) when I once again crossed paths with Hannah. She sat with me in the grass, the summer's day warm with the late afternoon light especially fine and luminous.
I left the city for Urbana in the summer of 1997 and I continued to write letters and send photos to Hannah. Hannah was also a filmmaker and she visited my home in the early 2000's to create a small sequence for a film she was directing. There was a showing of the film at the Music Box Theater and I drove to Chicago to see it with my friend David. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that she had included a shot of my painting studio in the film, tubes of paint and the studio window which faced the hemlock trees.
She was a recent graduate in photography from the University of Arizona, Tucson. She spoke of the beauty of the desert and when she learned I used a Hasselblad camera she called me a jerk with a sly smile upon her face. We became friends and I enjoyed writing letters to Hannah, making sure to include my latest photo prints.
One day on my lunch hour I walked to the Terra Museum of American Art on Michigan Ave to see an exhibit of Edward Weston photographs. As I wandered the gallery I crossed paths with Hannah by chance and we took in the show together. Not long after this meeting I was lounging on the grass promenade adjacent the Wrigley Building and the Chicago River at 5:30pm, eating a late lunch and in the middle of my shift for Morningstar (I worked 2:30pm-10:30pm) when I once again crossed paths with Hannah. She sat with me in the grass, the summer's day warm with the late afternoon light especially fine and luminous.
I left the city for Urbana in the summer of 1997 and I continued to write letters and send photos to Hannah. Hannah was also a filmmaker and she visited my home in the early 2000's to create a small sequence for a film she was directing. There was a showing of the film at the Music Box Theater and I drove to Chicago to see it with my friend David. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that she had included a shot of my painting studio in the film, tubes of paint and the studio window which faced the hemlock trees.
I Remember Hannah Maximova, I
Chicago 1994
I Remember Hannah Maximova, II
Chicago 1994
I Remember Hannah Maximova, III
Chicago 1994
I Remember Hannah Maximova, IV
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994
Chicago 1994