Chicago Photography

Chicago Yesterday This collection of photographs combines the Mid-Western charm with the big city energy for which Chicagoans are so admired and tells the story of how Chicago became the hub of the nation. The book shows Chicago preparing for the World's Fair and coping with fortunes of the Great Depression. Chicago Photography.

Windy City Wild: Chicago's Natural Wonders When most people think of the Chicago metropolitan area they usually don't envision captivating natural beauty, but within a 55-mile radius of the city there are no less than five distinctive ecosystems, including tall-grass prairies, oak savannas, forests, lakeshores, and wetlands. Several of the natural communities preserved here are among the rarest in the world, including 181 species listed as endangered or threatened. These spectacular color photographs uncover Chicago's natural wonders, including vistas of shooting stars at Chiwaukee Prairie, blazing star and goldenrod at Gensburg-Markham Prairie, a luscious green canyon at Camp Sagawau, a pair of sandhill cranes feeding along the banks of the Fox River, a carpet of trilliums in Messenger Woods, fog rising over the Volo bog, and a fox family venturing out at dawn.

On City Streets: Chicago, 1964-2004 (Center Books on Chicago & Environs S.) City streets are perhaps the most paradoxically anonymous and personal of all public spaces in the city: people blindly collide in their rush to reach their destinations, while the homeless look for humanity amid the thousands passing by. Gary Stochl captures this daily drama in "On City Streets", a penetrating examination of the unpredictable people, places, and events that make up the streets of downtown Chicago. It is a stunning collection made even more so by the fact that this is the first work of Stochl's to be seen in his forty years as a photographer. Until 2003, Stochl had never shown his photographs to anyone; his rich body of images remained completely unknown to the public. Self-taught and working in isolation, Stochl carefully studied the work of other renowned urban photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. Through his studies, he learned how to see his subjects, and he developed a visual language uniquely his own, unfettered by fashion or community. The results of his efforts are these powerful images that provide a starkly honest and penetrating glimpse into the lives of city dwellers and their internal struggle with the loneliness of contemporary urban life. Like all great images, Stochl's photographs leave the viewer with an altered sense of the world. "On City Streets" offers, with unnerving directness and consistency, that rare artistic combination of visual sophistication and stunning emotional resonance. With this book, Stochl joins the ranks of Chicago's great photographers. Chicago Photography.

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