Chicago PDN On the Road
The Chicago leg of the PDN On the Road seminar series kicked off with a bang. First, someone almost killed themselves breaking into our studio. They kicked a hole in the security glass and tried to climb through it. The glass slid down guillotine style about 8 inches and cut the intruder up pretty good. Nothing was stolen but everything was a mess. Then we get on the plane where a large unstable passenger who had never flown before sat across the aisle from me. He pretty much begged to be let off the plane the whole 4 hour flight. Not very relaxing to say the least.
Image Mechanics Executive Director Pip Newson accompanied me on this leg of the tour. As any of you who are clients know, she is the go-to person for problem solving. It turns out she also has meerkat like senses for finding good restaurants. We were cruising along in the cab on the way from the airport and she spotted Bourgeois Pig, a place she saw on Rachel Ray. It was a great coffee house and I highly recommend it if you are in the area.
BTW, the plate in the forground with food on it is mine and the one polished clean was Pip’s. She may look small but she can out eat me most days with her high metabolism.
The event was held at the Nature Museum and they were great hosts. If you get a chance you should check out the live butterfly exhibit.
It was a nice crowd again and like Atlanta, they were pretty technically savvy. The speakers were excellent once again. This time the line up changed a little bit. Meg Asaro stepped in for Patrick Donehue. She used to do stand up and was an engaging speaker right from the start. I had to step out to take care of some business back home and unfortunately missed most of her presentation but she is definitely someone I am glad to know and would value her opinion.
I also missed Doug Menuez and Ed Kashi on the second day of the Chicago event because I had to leave town early. Hopefully I will get a chance to hear both of them speak in the future. BTW, Doug was telling me about using his first digital camera in 1983 so I would bet he has some insight into digital photography that is worth listening too.
During the portfolio share, I arrived at a table the same time as Mary Virginia Swanson and had the opportunity to listen to her give a quick portfolio review. I have worked with Debra before and I could tell from her and Mary’s presentations that they knew what they were talking about but Wow! She made a comment to me after hearing me speak about being amazed at all the technical knowledge in my head and I felt the same about her after hearing her give a review. Off the top of her head she rattled off several out of print books and organizations that the photographer should research and contact. I was blown away by the depths of her knowledge. Photographer beware, you better be ready to take notes if you get a chance to speak with her about your work.
The PDN/Santa Fe Workshop production team were great hosts once again. We missed Lauren Wendle but I am sure she had a lot of wrap up with Photo Plus and the other Lauren was fabulous.
Pip and I were able to catch the Richard Misrach beach show at the Chicago Art Institute before our flight on Tuesday. Don’t miss seeing these digital images if you get a chance. Oh yeah, the Antarctic multimedia piece at was also very cool (pun intended).
Below are some iPhone shots of Chicago flavor
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