Travel

spending an afternoon in the small and amazingly eccentric town of jerome, az., is an unforgettable experience, where portals to the past exist in an oddly suspended state, immune to change or significant alteration. this glorified "ghost town" was an ideal location for me to practice capturing these historical markers in unfamiliar territory. small elements of the architecture and landscape reveal...

visiting la crosse, wisc. this past week was incredibly therapeutic - effectively reducing levels of stress and anxiety that were becoming overly toxic and depleting me of the energy necessary to wake each morning prepared to document the never-ending building deaths throughout chicago. i've admired this little worker's cottage for over 20 years. not only does it include the date of...

a visit to new york city always presents a welcome change, to throw into relief the day-to-day documenting and salvaging of chicago's demolitions, and provide a more relaxed experience of mid-19th century ornamental cast iron architecture filled with manufacturer markings to later research. a lengthy stroll through the dark and narrow canyons flanked by walls of iron was rife with opportunities to capture...

when in new york i always visit sullivan's bayard-condict building (1897-1899) not only to reacquaint  myself with an "old friend" of sorts, but to closely study and photo-document the exceptional white glazed terra cotta facade through time, executed by the perth amboy terra cotta company, perth amboy, nj. the playful and lively terra cotta curtain wall adorning the bayard-condict building's steel skeleton frame is such a radical...

i had plenty of time to research the history of charleston, south carolina, before flying there. a few weeks after booking the trip, however, i had chosen to avoid that approach altogether and just visit blindly, in hopes of getting lost in its rich and well-preserved history in person. this way, i didn't feel any pressure or sense of overwhelm with...

as in san francisco, i spent a great deal of my "vacation" wandering the streets of new orleans armed with a camera and multiple lenses. i deliberately avoided putting forth any objectives or parameters for myself in terms of producing architectural imagery that could be assigned greater meaning. i put little pressure on myself except to capture the "essence" of the buildings and...

the painted ladies are a historic attraction in the bay, but i was nonetheless thrilled to peruse for myself the sloping row of colorful queen anne style residences in alamo square park and throughout the city. these victorian and edwardian style houses are generally 2-3 stories, featuring multiple balconies, large porches, and most notably -- bright multi-colored facades accentuating architectural detail (termed "painted ladies" for...

on a recent weekend trip to milwaukee, i revisited and toured the famous pabst mansion, a monumental limestone and terra cotta residence that sits on wisconsin avenue. the house is an anomaly, set back from the street and situated between non-descript university buildings. though hard to imagine, at one point in time the street was dotted with large, elite residences...

while on a brief weekend vacation to madison some time ago, i was determined to visit the harold c. bradley residence (1909), designed by notable architect louis h. sullivan and his chief draftsman, george grant elmslie. this would be elmslie's last commission with sullivan - shortly after, he would join william gray purcell. after we arrived at the house, i could...

for well over 18 years now, whenever i encountered this remarkable german baroque style mansion, built for joseph b. kalvelage in 1896 by local architect otto strack, i felt a strong sense of unease as i approached the facade with my camera. it certainly didn't help that directly behind the milwaukee mansion was the (now-demolished) apartment building where jeffery dahmer committed disturbing...

on sunday afternoon of the memorial day weekend, i managed to make time to visit frank lloyd wright's winter home and school known as taliesin west, which is located on a southern slope of the mcdowell range overlooking paradise valley outside scottsdale, arizona.  wright would spend his winters there, beginning in 1937, until the time of his death in 1959, at the age...

nearly sixteen years ago, i was attending college during the day and working as an audio engineer at night in a recording studio a friend and i haphazardly piecemealed together in the basement of the historic odin j. oyen building. during the course of organizing the studio space, i befriended the new owner of the building, who had every intention of...