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Somehow throughout my 20 plus year newspaper career, I have avoided having to photograph the annual Black Friday shopping frenzy.

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I didn’t start work until 6pm on Thanksgiving so I decided to spend a good chunk of the afternoon visiting my recent photo subject Patricia Jefferson.

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When the Grabenhofers have night time Bears’ parties in their garage, it is kinda hard to find a match to the Cagwin farm.

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Ed and Amanda hosted a party the other night and it resulted in several new diptychs. My new ones are a little more non-traditional so let me know if you think they work as I post them over the next several days.

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The one challenge is the lack of people. Out in the land of the parking lot, the only place to see humans is on their walk from a store to their car.

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Last week, I was sent over to the Chicago Theatre to photograph a dress rehearsal for Cirque du Soleil’s new vaudeville show “Banana Shpeel”.

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On Sundays, Patricia Jefferson serves as associate minister at Reverend Floyd B. Smiley’s Direct Thy Path M.B. Church on South Lawndale Avenue on Chicago’s West side.

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One recent evening, Aryana wanted Patricia to bake a cake. Patricia was feeling tired but Aryana kept pestering her so Patricia finally relented and the pair headed into the kitchen.

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Patricia is a 58-year-old woman who lives in a 2nd floor apartment on Chicago’s far west side. She is married to William and lives with their autistic adopted daughter Sherice, who turned 14 on my third visit.

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Shot from street level, Phil captured ballet dancers practicing on the 3rd floor of the new Joffrey Ballet studio on State Street in Chicago’s Loop.

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As the Grabenhofer family sat down to dinner, I decided to shoot from the backyard to make a pair to one of the many outside looking in shots from the Cagwin farm.






















