Accidentally Blogging

I'm in the process of updating my website.

2010-08-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I swear I really am. Here's a photo that I took the other night to tide you over.

New Apartment!

2010-07-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

I got my keys today to my loft!

Chad and I dropped by today to scope out the place. I start doing the official move in next week.

So much happening at once?

2010-07-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, not really. Mainly I'm just behind on things, like usual. But to refresh the people who read this, (I'm gonna guess there are 5 of you, and one of you is my mom. Hi Mom), I'm getting the keys to my loft this Friday. I'm actually moving ahead on updating my website, (give me a few weeks on that one for the final product), and I'm fighting all urges to getting a pet at my new place. We'll see how long that lasts.

Also, the majority of my friends are reminding me that I'm behind on sharing the photos that I've taken over the last few months, so I'm gonna start that right now.

Here is a photo from Ina Weise's show. It is a collaberation between Ina and Linsey Burritt.

Ok, I'm outta here. I'm not saying that I have a short attention span, but there is a large wasp in my apartment that is daring me to fight it with a can of Febreeze and a fly swatter.

2 Photos from one of my favorite spots in the city.

2010-03-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

Mike Ruggirello and I decided to go photograph this lovely spot in between Hubbard and Fulton.

I finally got a few new panoramic photos scanned in. I hope to have something to post on here in the next day or two.

New Photos on Flickr!

2010-02-12T22:58:00.001-08:00

I posted some new photos on flickr. More to come soon.

3 more photos from last week.

2009-12-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more photographs from last week. I couldn't decide between which photo I liked more of Julia with her cat, so I posted both. And after many people asking me why I don't have any photos of Sarah, behold, a photo of the elusive and beautiful Sarah for the world to see.

Julia Haw

2009-12-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

This is portrait of my incredibly talented friend Julia Haw. I'm finally catching up on all of the photo shoots that I've been way overdue to work on. I should have a few more posts coming quite soon.

I'm working on a new series of silhouettes.

2009-12-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a few new things recently. This is one of the goofier projects that I'm building on right now.

A little overdue...

2009-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

I took a little longer of a vacation from this blog than I thought I would. So for the few people out there who glance at this from time to time, I'm back. I finished my website around the end of September, and I sort of shut down posting new things for a while.

I don't have anything new I want to post right now, so I thought I'd throw a photo of my sculpture from the group show I was in during late August and most of September. This is a duck relaxing in a hammock made out of 6 pack rings. I wanted to create something happy and fun relaxing in an environment that is dangerous to its well-being.

Ok, more to come soon.

A few photographs from my old house.

2009-09-20T17:56:00.001-07:00

I thought back to my old party house that I used to live in. (I may have posted the neon green pool photo before, I can't remember) We lived in one of the most memorably fun and gross houses ever to be rented. Here's a few of the gems that never made it to my website or any specific project.

My new website is halfway complete.

Look at it!

I was bummed that I had a lot of photos that didn't seem to fit into any of the sets I posted on my website, so over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a lot of them on my blog so they can see the light of day.

Website Construction has started!

2009-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

Just a teaser here. I hope to have the entire site finished within a week.
Stay tuned.

Sam, Eli, & Sam's Mercedes

2009-08-21T11:40:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to photograph Sam with his dog Eli for ages now. Fate had been sealed when I saw Sam's vintage Mercedes. The photo of Sam and Eli was on newyorktimes.com and I heard a rumor that it also made it into the physical newspaper, but I have yet to see that or hear any confirmation. Pretty cool either way though.

Come to Hate Night #2

2009-08-19T13:07:00.001-07:00

I lucked out and got a free deck last time because Sarah won it in a raffle. Maybe your girlfriend can win you a deck if you come to this and bring her with.

Ryan's work is great. Come get his stuff cheap before he gets famous and all his work costs a ton.

Come to the Burlington
3425 W Fullerton
10 PM

A few interesting photos from the last few weeks.

2009-08-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a bunch of photos over the last month or so, but I haven't really posted too many. Here are a few samples of what I've been up to.

Friends Punching Friends

2009-08-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from the first boxing match at the Peddy Cash FTW Rally. Taran and Jude fought like true friends, by violently hitting each other in the face. Good work guys. Your match was the best of the night.

Ping Pong at Happy Village

2009-08-04T09:29:00.001-07:00

My friend Joe Tallarico
invited me to photograph ping pong being played at Happy Village in Chicago. Here are a few of them.

I have yet to check the accuracy of this statement, but I overheard one of the people there mentioning that Ping Pong and Soccer, (futball to those who don't drink Coors Light or root for Michael Vick), are the most played sports in the world.

A few photographs from this years 4th of July.

2009-07-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

These photos and others can be found at
my flickr page

Sunburnt

2009-06-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

Meagan spent a little too much time out in the sun this weekend. I must send out a thanks to Meagan for being such a good sport in this photograph. That burn looked painful.

Tony on parking meter.

2009-06-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

A special thanks to Tony.

You have an amazing sense of balance.

Puerto Rican Festival

2009-06-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Chicago festivals are awesome. Where else can you see someone sitting half out of a car, (on the driver's side at that), while driving 3o+ mph down the street. Today was great.

I also took some rad photographs of Tony. I'll post one or two of em soon. Probably tomorrow. Well, enjoy!

Self Portrait

2009-06-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

I took a self portrait the other day at my apt.
Enjoy.

I photographed Sam Shoots at the Family Room last night.

2009-06-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sam had a birthday so Chad hit him in the face with a pie.

Audrey's feet and the remants of an epic pie-to-the-face.

Paul Elledge making a rare appearance from behind his photo booth.

Andrew and Scott chillin outside at the end of the party.

Peep my photos here.

Last night marked the 24th birthday of Sam Rosen. Sam hung 900 photographs throughout the Gallery at the Family Room, which is the name of The Post Family's gallery/studio. If that wasn't enough, Paul Elledge and his team were present with a photobooth. I'll post a link when I can find one for the photos they took.
Also, check out the rad photo that Tony Francesconi took of me last night.

I'm coming to terms with the fact that I have the best friends.

How are you doing?

2009-06-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is a photo I shot for the new issue of Lumpen. The photo is of Laura, she recently created a website that is just dandy. Enjoy! How are you doing?

A sneak peek!

2009-03-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Tony Francesconi and I are getting a show together, and here is a teaser from my project. I'd tell you more, but who doesn't love some anticipation?

It was really warm outside yesterday so....

2009-02-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

I biked around yesterday and took a few photographs. It seemed like far too great of an opportunity to be out in warm weather, mid February. All of the snow had melted and left giant puddles everywhere. The Giant stuffed bear sitting in water is my favorite. It was a bizarre thing to see.

Panoramic Photograph from Central Park

2009-02-06T19:43:00.001-08:00

I found this photograph when I was searching through old gems that I wanted to put on my new website. I'm not sure if this will make the cut, but I still enjoy it and thought I should share it. I'm going to spend some time working on my new project during this lovely heatwave of 40 degrees that we're seeing. Stay tuned..

I had to post this.....

2009-01-29T12:43:00.001-08:00

I had to post this photo. I believe that this is the most useless image I've ever photographed, and I think it's too funy not to share. I photographed this in the summer of 2007 during the Bling BQ

Two photos of my roommates

2009-01-27T22:18:00.001-08:00

It's been a little longer than I thought since my last post. I figured I'd post a few random photos of my roommates. The first one was taken one afternoon where they both fell asleep watching a DVD. The next one was taken when Dave tried playing a video game while wearing a magnifying headset.

After a case of the flu and a few photo shoots that I had to edit, I'm finally back to building my website and taking new photos. Expect more soon!

A few more moped photos.

2008-12-30T21:54:00.001-08:00

Hippy and a dead possum.

This was a race to see who could take the longest to cross the finish line.

Racing at Punks

So here are a few photos from the Moped Army BBQ in Kalamazoo back in 2006. I finally got around to scanning them in and editing them in the last two weeks. I'm editing through a bunch of stuff right now, and I expect to post more work soon.

'Tis the Season

2008-12-09T16:02:00.001-08:00

I like to pretend that I hate all the decoration and corny holiday stuff that takes place in December, but I don't. I was saved from icy rain by this Milwaukee Ave bus. Aside from a grinch or two, everyone seemed to become really cheerful when they got on board.

On a really cool note. Read my post directly under this one. I was fortunate enough to get to contribute to the newest issue of Proximity and I'm really excited for the release party. Chad Kouri and Rod Hunting from The Post Family put a ton of work into this issue. So please come if you can.

Proximity Magazine Issue #003 Release Party

2008-12-09T15:51:00.001-08:00

Friday, December 12th at The Family Room

The Family Room will play host for the celebration of the release of Proximity Magazine issue #003. The event will include work from artists featured in the issue including: Sonnenzimmer, Sighn, Delicious Design League, Matt Siber, and John Salhus. Plus, a video by Jenni Rope , a reading by James Kennedy, and a super-special cover of Chris Estey's valentine to Jesus and rock 'n roll.

Friday, December 12, 2008, 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM
At The Family Room (1821 W Hubbard St #202)
312.265.6406
$5 cover ($10 gets you an issue of Proximity issue #003 and a complimentary drink).

Two Panoramic Photographs from Select Media Fest

2008-12-09T15:40:00.001-08:00

These are some of my first attempts at making digitally spliced panoramic photographs. Select Media Fest 7: Infoporn was great this year. The first photo is from the second floor looking down on the gallery. The second photo is of Jude's Laser Pentagram. Jude made it using only 5 mirrors, 1 laser, and math skills. One of the highlights of the show was watching people lean on the hanging panels and then fall through as the panels swung out.

Panoramic from Ground Zero

2008-12-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

I photographed this on September 11 this year. David Paul Larson and I went down to Ground Zero to look around and take a few photographs. I photographed this on one of the bridges going over the roads. That is what is framing the left side of the photo.

Two Panoramics from BlingBQ IV

2008-12-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning my computer and found these two panos from 2007 that I had scanned in and forgotten about. These are light edits, not quite finished yet. I'll be posting more stuff again quite soon.

Chicago Panoramic Photographs.

2008-11-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

I wanted to photograph at twilight for this shot, but my moped broke and I didn't get downtown in time. I'll be reshooting at twilight sometime in the next week or two. Maybe with snow?

I was walking by this and thought I'd be a fool not to photograph a panoramic of it. The building on the left says "Baby" and "Love" in its upper windows.

2 More Panoramic Photos

2008-11-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here is another version of Times Square that I photographed back in September. I know I already posted one of these, but I felt that Naked Cowboy was drawing too much attention away from the rest of the image.

This was taken last July when we brought the moped rally down to the Maxwell Street Market on Sunday.

Inside the Met

2008-11-12T16:36:00.001-08:00

I photographed this Panoramic inside the Met when I was in NYC last month. I think the tourists look like statues themselves.

Nature Makes Art

2008-11-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Every comment I was going to make about this photograph sounds incredibly corny. So I guess that's all I will say about it. Enjoy

Go Vote (For Obama Please)

2008-11-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

I know it's late, but I'm a victim of the pre-voting jitters/playing with my parent's new collie puppy way too late at night. I need to sleep now. My mom and I are going to vote at 7am. Sweet dreams and happy voting!

ps. Thanks Chad!

goto http://www.thepostfamily.com/

Fountains in Millennium Park

2008-11-01T18:57:00.001-07:00

I've been sitting on this photograph for a while now because I haven't finished my work on it, but I like this photo so much I had to post it anyways. Enjoy!

-Ben

ISO 3200 Film

2008-11-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post a few of my photographs I shot on 3200 speed film. I'm heading to MN for the weekend and the first part of next week. I should have a few new photographs up soon after.

3 Photos from my Fast Food Project.

2008-10-20T17:13:00.001-07:00

Here are three photographs from my fast food project. I documented how many McDonalds I could make it to in a day, on foot. I purchased one item at each location I visited. I made it to twenty three in total, three of which were closed since it was Sunday. I'm still in the process of editing the photographs. I'm trying to figure out somewhere to show the project in the future. Enjoy!

RIP Libby

2008-10-20T17:07:00.001-07:00

This is one of the last photographs I ever took of Libby. She developed bone cancer a short time back and my parents had to have her put down earlier on today. She was a good dog.

Times Square

2008-09-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

I recently took a trip to NYC for the first time. This was one of the more amusing photographs that I took. I'll post more soon.

A photo from my old place, and a photo from my new place

2008-08-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

The photo above was taken a few days ago at the house I'm moving out of. I have no idea who stuck the knife there. But I used the knife for cutting pizza a day earlier.
This is in the alley behind my new apartment. Apparantly someone wrote this a week or two ago.

New Animal Photograph

2008-08-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've been continuing my body of work examining the relationships between animals and mankind. This is one of my favorite photographs from my recent work. I'm fascinated by the fabricated environment for the sake of the bear, but also for the humans viewing it.

Two photos from the Sunday Mope Ride

2008-07-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

This was the fifth annual Peddy Cash Bling BQ, and for this rally we changed the name to the Bro BQ. This was done because the theme of the whole rally was partying like a Bro. There were over 60 moped riders gathered this year to ride and the rally included a ride through the ghett0, a group ride and a street race on Lower Wacker, and a moped crash at 63 mph on Lake Shore Drive, (he suffered major road rash, but no broken bones).

If you want to see all of the photos posted from everyone at the moped rally, search the flickr tag: BROBQV

I highly recommend looking at them as some people have uploaded photos of the moped fire from the crash on Lake Shore Drive.

Mopeds riding on Lower Wacker

2008-07-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here are two photos from the Lower Wacker ride during the BroBQ, which was a moped rally in Chicago this year. I'll post more photos from it soon.

Industrial Panoramic

2008-07-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is another piece from one of the panoramic series that I've been working on. It looks to be an abandoned loading station of some sort. This was taken on the south side of Chicago.

2008-07-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

I was over at my friends' house and this dog kept hanging out of the window.

Tyler's Ghost Bike

2008-06-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Tyler was struck by a car at the Logan and Western intersection this April. There is a ghost bike up in his memory at the spot where he was hit.

Pritzker Pavilion

2008-06-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is a diptych of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park. This is part of my panoramic project of tourist attractions that I've been working on.

Fiesta

2008-06-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

After a 14 hour workday on 1.5 hours of sleep, I came home to find a fiesta taking place in my backyard. This was one of the winning shots from the pinata beating.

2008-06-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

This was taken in the Lasalle stop on the Blue Line.

2008-06-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait of Meagan and Isaac in their apartment.

2008-05-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a series of photographs with a panoramic camera. This is just inside the main entrance of Navy Pier.