Behind The Shot: @badluckbae

We spoke to Sonja Weiss better known on Instagram as @badluckbae and shared with us the story behind two of her favorite photographs taken in Chicago.

Taken with DJI Magic Pro and Polar Pro DJI Magic ND8/PL filter.

“I live in Chicago but work in the north suburbs, so I spend a good two plus hours driving back and forth from work each day. While driving home last spring I spotted a low fog covering the city.

I rushed home to grab my boyfriend and my gear. Hopped on a ride to Michigan Ave. By this time another photographer friend met us north of the Hancock building and we sent our drones up to get a better look. 

I shoot fog quite a bit, however, the fog on this day was some of the best I had ever seen. I noticed a smooth patch of fog snaking its way around the 900 N. Michigan shops and snapped a few shots.

Late afternoon was approaching and daylight was limited so I decided to head to the lake and try to catch the late afternoon shadows, something I had been trying to capture with fog for quite some time.

Foggy days can get a bit dreary in Chicago, so the conditions needed to be just right to capture both low fog and shadows at the same time. After practically jogging to Milton Olive Park we sent our drones up and sure enough, there were shadows.

Most of the city was covered in thick low fog, but the sky was otherwise sunny and clear. The shadows from the skyscrapers were very clearly imprinted on the low clouds, I literally couldn’t believe I had gotten so lucky. 

However, our luck was short lived as several people had taken notice of our drones and notified security. We quickly grabbed our shots and landed our drones just in time for the police to drive through the park to search for us. 

Stealthily stashing our gear, we made our exit from the park where I made a terrible decision to send my drone up one last time. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up by this point and as soon as I launched my drone began to drift away. My boyfriend ran after it and caught my drone midair injuring both of his hands but saving my drone.”

• Lesson 1: Do not try to catch your drone if it’s flying out of control.

• Lesson 2: Don’t fly when it’s windy. 

Taken with Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 LM WR lens.

“At that point light was rapidly fading and my luck had obviously run out, so we raced to 360 Chicago in hopes of catching sunset. Turns out there was a photo meet up at Hancock that evening, so it was more crowded than usual. Everyone was armed with a cameras and tripods, taking up the all the prime window space.

On the bright side I ran into quite a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while, witnessed an epic sunset and managed to grab a few shots on my camera. This sunset shot of the 900 N. Michigan shops shows the rippled texture of the fog and the vibrance of the sunset.

It had gotten quite late at this point and I had work early the next morning, so we left 360 Chicago and grabbed a cab home, or so we thought. The fog had dropped to street level making quite a scene with the city lights. We stopped the cab, hopped out and continued shooting. 

We shot at street level for another hour and finally headed home, exhausted but happy. None of my sunset fog adventures in Chicago have come close to this day. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a long time before we see anything like it. I feel very fortunate we were able to capture it.”

My 312: Top 3 Murals in Pilsen

Around 2 p.m. we met with Matthew Moore from Artist Replete and checked out his favorite murals in Pilsen. 

Q: What neighborhood in the city has the best art?

A: There is a lot of great street art throughout Chicago but it’s in different pockets of the city. Previously I was living in River North and then when I decided to take my business more seriously, I had to decide which neighborhood I wanted to move to. I personally feel there is a higher concentration of artists making great work in the Pilsen area, so I decided to move there. If people don't think it's the best area for street art now. They will soon. 

“Kind of Blue” by Rawooh. Located at 21st St. & Racine Ave.

“This all started when I was going for a jog. I was just surprised that there was no artwork on this giant space. I started thinking of an artist named Rawooh who I was working with at the time and I had a conversation with him, it stuck out to me. He mentioned how he would like to have his own big wall someday. This piece it got created off that notion. Like ‘wow’ this is an epic wall I have to figure out how to do this. I contacted the building owner, reached out via email and talked back and forth. 

This is Open Kitchen and they supply food to a lot of the Chicago schools. The founder of the business is a woman, the artist Rawooh has always painted a lot of female characters. So the woman in the mural ties in with her story it’s a woman with big ambitions, dreaming and listening to music. 

We went on the Open Kitchens website first thing we saw was an apple and she’s like doodling with a pencil. Rawooh created someone with big aspirations, reading and who is creative.

The current CEO of the business is Anthony Fiore. He’s really good friends with a Chicago band Rise Against and that’s their emblem with the heart and fist. The rest of it is a lot of music the artist is into and he’s Latin American so he had that Made in Mexico logo. 

Then the owner's brother wanted MF Doom logo so he put that there as well. An artist named AFEKS helped with it too. This was a full month-long project the artist has a full-time job. He came opposite of his 9-5 to work on this.”

“Nebula” by Rawooh.

Located at 21st St. & Alport St.

“This is only a few blocks away from the other mural. This is where the original conversation came into play that created that mural. This image of Nebula based on the curation of Ruben Aguirre. This is his space and he invited Rawooh unto this wall. 

Rawooh had been used to being involved with shared artist spaces. Then he mentioned that ‘it would be dope to have my own space.’ This image and creation was the spark to create that one.

This is Rawooh right here, the curator is @likes_1, Ruben Aguirre. The other figure is made by an artist named MATR, he’s very talented as well. Yeah, this is very detailed and Rawooh’s style just captivates me.

A lot of artists don’t spend as much time and detail as he does. If you look at the original Nebula character details are just spot on.” 

“Enchantress” by Czr Prz. Located at 18th St. & Ashland Ave.

“This one is by Czr Prz, his vision for this one was a woman controlling the weather in a way, like a goddess. Czr is part of the RK-AIR graffiti crew and artists like Rawooh are actually in that crew as well. 

To me, this is one of the most detailed artist murals in Pilsen, along with the ones I just showed you. Its three stories and if you look at the top corner like I said he’s part of the RK-AIR crew. A lot of street artists they start in graffiti crews before they branch out to fine art and gallery art. Still one of the most detailed and you almost don’t notice that there are four hands until you look at its closely because it blends in so well.”

Matthew Moore is the creator of Artist Replete which he launched in 2017. Artist Replete focuses on the emergence of artists and their search for recognition. 

“Replete pretty much means the opposite of starving. So that was the basis of the opposite of a starving artist,” said Matthew.

Profile Stories: Brad Varsity

Growing up Bradley Perl was periodically bullied. That became one of the reasons why he ultimately turned to music, alongside other hardships such as growing up with split parents. Whenever he was feeling down and needed someone to talk to he would put a pen on paper. 

“I didn’t have too many friends back then because I had just moved a town over. Music was the first person I had to talk to about the things going on inside my head.”

Today, he is better known by his stage name Brad Varsity. The name was inspired by a time when he was bullied by the varsity football team in high school. “Now when it comes to making music I’m on the varsity team,” said Brad. 

“I was a pretty late bloomer so they kinda picked on me because I was not as strong as them and it was an easy thing for them to do. I remember I was in my room faking sick to not go to school. I was doing math homework I started fucking crying. So I flipped the page and started writing lyrics and I felt my first ever release from music.”

Junior year of high school was when Brad began to record music in his friend's basement. He was encouraged to do so because his classmates who were labeled as the “cool kids” released a song.

“I heard it and I was like this is trash. I can do better and I said maybe I should start recording. I always wrote stuff in my notes but I never recorded a song. I went over my friends and recorded. The first song that I made was a remix of ‘Beamer, Benz, or Bentley.”

He was becoming less shy and more comfortable with himself. Senior prom came around and he performed a remix to Drake’s “Started From the Bottom,” which they called “Started as Freshman” alongside a friend. Throughout high school he recorded a few songs which he would share on Facebook.

While still in high school he recalls a time when his uncle spoke to him after listening to one of his songs which he enjoyed. He questioned him about it and asked him if it was just a hobby or he wanted to pursue it as a career. 

At the time Brad didn’t have the support he has now. No one encouraged him to pursue a career in music. He replied to his uncle, “Oh it's just a hobby, I’m gonna go to college and get a good job.” Deep down inside he knew that it was one of his ultimate dreams. 

He went on to attend The University of Iowa where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing. During college, he took a break from music although he never stopped writing it. When his junior year came around he got right back into it and began to release freestyles.

He bought equipment and taught himself how to record on his own. Senior year of college was when he released his first project titled, “Dean’s List.” Which was filled with songs about partying and girls.

After graduating in the summer of 2017 he moved back home to Buffalo Grove, IL. A year later in June 2018, he moved to the city where his music career began to take off. 

In May 2019 Brad was given the opportunity to go on a reality TV show. They flew him out to Mexico where he was quarantined in a hotel room. He knew he wasn’t going to be allowed to have his cellphone so he took an iPod which he filled up with beats. “It was pretty much paradise prison. So what I did was sit in my room's balcony and I would just fill up this notebook with lyrics to beats that my producer FVNTVNV sent me,” said Brad.

“Brad’s work ethic is insane. He truly lives and breathes music. I know very few people that are constantly working toward their goals like Brad is. As someone that engineers his own music as well, it adds so much to his workload as an artist, but he still finds a way to keep up with everything. I really believe that music is the first thing he thinks about when he gets up and he is still thinking about it in his sleep when he goes to bed.”

Brian Fanning aka FVNTVNV

Music Producer and Sound Designer at E$ Sounds

That gave birth to his second project titled “Balcony - EP” which was released in Dec. 2019.  For Brad 2019 was a good year, he had the chance to perform at various venues across the city such as Tunnel, Joy District and Prysm. 

“His energy and vibe undoubtedly matched mine so it was so easy to be able to create songs that allowed us both to express our artistry. The blend of our voices, flow, and writing abilities just naturally go well together. He’s one of the reasons why I work as hard as I do towards my own career. He’s such an inspiring person with the greatest energy and aura that is undeniable.”

Michaella Aloba

Recording Artist

One of Brad’s ultimate goals is to gain his father's approval by showing him he will be able to make a living through music. 

“I have a goal sheet and one of my goals is to take him out to a really expensive dinner and be able to tell him music paid for it.”

This year Brad will be releasing plenty of singles alongside a new project. 

Watch Brad’s latest music video here. 

My 312: Best House Music Venue in Chicago

Around 3:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve we sat down with Abigail Grohmann to talk about her favorite venue in Chicago. 

Q: What's your favorite place in Chicago to listen to live music in? 

A: My favorite place to listen to live music in Chicago is Metro / Smartbar. 

Q: Tell me about Metro / Smartbar?

A: The Metro is a music venue in Wrigleyville housed in an old historic landmark building. It has this incredible old facade and is owned by Joe Shanahan. Underneath Metro, there’s a nightclub called Smartbar which is where the house and techno community in Chicago pretty much lives.  

“A few more clubs exist downtown that also offer spaces for the house and techno community, but this is basically where the genre has continued to blossom since Warehouse closed down. Frankie Knuckles was one of the original Smartbar resident DJ’s and he pioneered the house music genre, that history is still very present in the walls of this space.” 

“This place is very historic and really special to me and the house music community. It’s basically where I spend all of my time on the weekends.” 

Q: Why Metro / Smartbar and not elsewhere?

A: As a house and techno DJ, this club is built for the music I play. House and techno is still a pretty underground genre, what many don’t know is that house music originated in Chicago and techno originates in Detroit. So it’s very important to keep the local house music scene in Chicago vibrant. 

“Smartbar is a very safe space for all people to come. On the walls, there are signs that say no racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no transphobia, no xenophobia and no harassment of any kind. As a young woman, I can even come here by myself on the weekends and know I’m going to feel safe.”

Q: Who’s been one of your favorite artist to see perform here?

A: Michael Mayer, DJ Tennis, Danny Daze and Lone were some of the most exciting sets I’ve seen at Smartbar in 2019. It’s also always exciting to see some of the Smartbar resident DJ’s that have blown up in the industry like The Black Madonna and Derrick Carter come back and play. They really are some of the most technically proficient DJ’s in the world and bring the most fun and energy to the dance floor. 

“Like no other place in Chicago, Smartbar / Metro feels like home. No other music venue feels familial in the same way. The people that come here regularly know the staff. It's a very special place and I haven’t really experienced that level of intimacy with a venue anywhere else.”

“Metro / Smartbar have a focus on being comfortable and welcoming for people from all walks of life to come here and have an amazing experience with music.” 

Abigail Grohmann is a Chicago native who currently works in advertising. She’s a creative at heart, model and aspires to be a full-time DJ. She is a creative strategist and resident DJ of Manifest which was established in 2016. As a collective, they come up with visual art installations for nightclubs, parties and experiential activations. The intention behind the installations is to imagine the futuristic, the utopian and the avant-garde, creating immersive moments of transcendence for patrons.

Profile Stories: Billy Marchiafava

Before William Marchiafava became better known as BillyisTerrible and toured the country with the likes of Yung Gravy, SavageRealm, bbno$ and Yung Bae. He created vines and comedic skits alongside his high school friends that he would upload to YouTube.

Altogether his vines would gain some traction but his YouTube skits would get little to no views. Then in 2016 he started to become inspired with the new wave of rappers coming out of SoundCloud. 

“I feel like I was pretty inspired by the whole SoundCloud wave because you would literally do and sound however you want. The quality didn’t have to be that great but it was still garnering attention from people. That’s what inspired me to do it DIY.”

That same year he recorded his first song that he was too scared to upload. Ultimately he uploaded it a year later alongside more music and that is when his life began to change and his career as a rapper started to blossom. 

In 2017 when Fortnite was becoming a massive success, a couple of YouTubers began to use his music in their gameplay videos. This allowed his music to grow and amass a fan base. 

He recalls a YouTuber by the name of CeeDay who used his song “Rings” in his gameplay video, that video now has over 14 million views.

“The song was like in the climax of the video. The funniest thing about was there wasn’t even a link to my song. People just found it by searching the lyrics that they heard and that was like a big step. A lot of Tik Tokers started to use my stuff too. It just kept snowballing after that.”

Meme pages and Spotify where yet another reason his music blew up. Instagram meme pages would use his music to accompany their memes. When he began to upload his music to Spotify his tracks would end up in playlists that were heavily rotated. 

“Honestly making music made me appreciate it more. I am able to see what my music does for someone else. I get DM’s all the time saying ‘I was really depressed and hearing your music cheered me up’ and that right there is what I do it for. “

In February Billy released a self titled project “Billyy!! - EP” Billy has a unique rap style that he considers to be trash. 

“Trash… That’s normally what I say. It’s light hearted, it's not meant to be taken seriously and it’s something to vibe to. It's hard to say someone's music sucks when they already call it trash.”

Billy mentioned how one of the pivotal moments in his career was waking up to that “blue cheese.” 

“A very important part in my career is when I got verified on Instagram. I woke up one morning checked my Instagram just like any other morning and saw the blue cheese baby. I was so inspired by getting verified on Instagram I made a song about it. ”

Billy said he is set to release his debut album “Mainstream Meme” in late February of 2020. He is also working on several music videos and planning his first headliner tour.

My 312: Best Diner in Chicago

On Dec. 18 at 12:30 p.m. we sat down with Alan Epstein from WhatWasBreakfast to discuss what his favorite spot to have breakfast in Chicago.  

Q: If you had one day in Chicago where would you eat & why? 

A: White Palace, this is my favorite spot. 

“The 2x2x2x2 Breakfast is my favorite breakfast in Chicago. White Palace has a crazy ambiance this painting is insanity. Look it's Jordan, Oprah, Hilary Clinton, we got Walter Payton in there, Harold Washington, they got a cow. All of this Chicago stuff a Muddy Waters poster, on the ceiling they got crazy art as well. The vibes here are spectacular everything looks like it’s fresh out of 1954. The menu is like a bible, look at the size of that.”

“I always get the 2x2x2x2 which is just two eggs, two pancakes, two pieces of bacon and two pieces of sausage. Most places they make you choose between bacon and sausage like why do I have to choose, why can't I just have bacon and sausage? Then like they refill your coffee a million times. This place never closes you can come on Christmas and New Years.”

By the way Alan had four cups of coffee.

“I would like to talk about how important it is for Pancakes to be fluffy.

I always get scrambled. I like over easy eggs but only if they're on top of something. Over easy eggs on a plate it's just gonna get everywhere.”

“I like the coffee chats I like meeting up with people for coffee. What we're doing right now this is my shit. Brainstorming, eating breakfast and drinking coffee that’s ideal for me.”

Richard interviews Alan while enjoying some coffee (even though Richard doesn’t like coffee.)

Q: What does this breakfast say about you?

A: I like the staples, I like the classics, the fundamentals. I’m not ordering off menu I’m not changing it up were just playing the hits right now. This is a classic you would’ve been able to get this 80-years-ago at the same spot. 

“Food is a storytelling vehicle.”

Alan moved to Chicago three years ago in order to pursue a career in improv. Unfortunately that didn't go as planned. As improv was falling through he was working at the Cherry Circle Room in the Loop, where WhatWasBreakfast was born in Aug. 2016. He began interviewing people on the streets of Chicago and asking them what they had for breakfast. All while snapping a couple of pictures of them. Four years strong and going unto his fifth year one should expect great things in store for 2020. 

Read Alan’s ‘Five Chicago’s fast-food pairings’ here.

Profile Stories: DryBoy

In the span of a year and a half Joshua Marbutt has accomplished a lot in his short yet promising career. Marbutt who is now better known by his stage name DryBoy who’s single “Summer Nights featuring Clever” has recently been featured on WorldStarHipHop’s YouTube channel. 

As a teenager DryBoy was always attracted toward music on a deeper level. While in middle school he would visit his friend who’s older brother had an in home studio. There he would write rhymes, freestyle and dance alongside his friends to classic hip-hop beats.  

“DryBoy’s dope, we’ve been friends since middle school and growing up I always knew he was going somewhere in life with the things he loves doing.”

Johnny Vargas 

Photographer/Dancer

DryBoy recalls recording his first single called “Lost” alongside a group of friends over a year ago. The song which was written to a Young Thug Type Beat was recorded using a guitar hero microphone with a sock over it. 

“It was a very ghetto setup, it was a fun process, at the end of the song if you listen to it you can hear everybody in the room laughing. It made the song more genuine in my opinion, like you can tell that was the first song, that’s when we started fucking around.”

In Sept. of 2018 he released his first music video for his single “All I Know.” Which was followed by an EP release titled “Bipolar” that Dec. After that he began to release only singles throughout 2019. He truly enjoys creating music and believes being able to influence people's moods through his music is a powerful instrument he possesses. 

“I feel like God has given me the secret sauce to do this. Because a lot of people who started doing this aren’t even at the point where I’m at right now I’m like blessed.  I feel like I’ve been taking the right steps and I definitely thank God for that one.”

Within the past year DryBoy has done what a lot of artists starting up would want to do such as being the opening act for local artists such as Calboy, Cdot Honcho, Lil Durk and G Herbo as well as YBN Nahmir. 

“Josh is one of the most determined and ambitious artists I have met. He’s gonna be a star and nobodies going to stop what he has coming. 

Joshua Talbot-Bowe aka The WildCard

Magician

In early 2019 he recorded “Summer Nights” which was inspired by a nice day cruising around with the windows down while listening to beats on YouTube. As soon as he got home he began to write to a beat that he found and immediately knew it was gonna be a summer hit.

His manger got in contact with Clever’s manager they heard the song and next thing you know it he recorded his verse. Then in Aug. DryBoy flew out to Florida to meet up with Clever and film the music video. 

On Oct. 4, 2019 the music video premiered on WorldStarHipHop’s YouTube channel and since then has amassed over 200,000 views and over 500,000 streams across all music streaming services. 

Most recently he linked up with Cdot Honcho for his latest single “Hop In.” 

“Hop in is just lit I normally don’t make music like that but I heard the beat and I was like yo! I wanna make music that someone can listen to and get hyped with and bob their heads.”

The music video for “Hop In” is expected to be released before the end of the year. In 2020 he doesn’t plan on releasing a project just yet. He will focus on pushing out singles and music videos this upcoming year. DryBoy is currently in the talks of accompanying another artist on a nationwide tour. 

Stream DryBoy’s Juice Wrld tribute song here.

Profile Stories: The WildCard

Imagine walking into a bookstore while on vacation and stumbling upon a book that will ultimately lead towards your passion and calling in life. That is exactly what happened with Joshua Talbot-Bowe when he was 14-years-old.  

On a rainy day in South Carolina, Josh was exploring the area and came across a book store where he found a card trick book and instantly began to dive into the art of magic. Throughout the years he has taught himself magic through books and video tutorials. 

 “I realized I didn’t want to be a regular magician I didn’t want to do the same stuff that they all do so I started to change my style and began to be more of myself through my magic”

Today at 20-years-old Josh is better known as The Wildcard. Magic has allowed him to travel all over the country and meet really dope people all while displaying his talents. 

 “I always wanted to be the center of attention. I also always wanted to bring people together and inspire people. People think I can’t do what I do as a career so it's kind of an inspiration to people that wanna do what they wanna do for their career.”

This past summer he went on a cross country tour for three months which he self-titled The Wildcard Tour. He traveled from city to city on a short bus he remodeled to live in while on tour. 

“Josh is like one of the craziest people I know. His behavior with anything he does that shits bound to be crazy. At the same time, he's one of the hardest working people that I know. I never see him stopping no matter success or failure he just uses it as fuel. That’s why I fuck with him.”

 “That guy is amazing he’s an enigmatic creative and is always determined to fulfill whatever he's chasing at the moment. He's a big inspiration to a lot of people and to me as well.”

Brandon Baumet

Longtime Friend

This year he also amassed a big following on Tik Tok with over 120,000 followers and over seven viral Tik Tok’s. The first viral Tik Tok he posted consisted of him climbing into a box and making himself disappear that video accumulated over one million views. 

“It's like the perfect social media. The more chaotic it gets the better.”

Josh’s best advice for anyone trying to follow his footsteps is to not follow his footsteps nor anyone else’s because no one gets anywhere by following someone else. 

“I would just say do exactly what you want every single day of your life and that’s gonna get you where you are happiest.”

 From here on out he plans on hosting many more events in the Chicagoland area alongside uploading lots of more content even outside of magic such as pranks throughout his social media.

On Dec. 13 he will be hosting a party called Stoopid Cold where he will be performing his magic alongside music performances and clothing brand pop-ups. RSVP HERE.

Kicks to the Rescue

On July 15, Gregory Williams, better known as Platinum, founder and owner of all things Iridum was diagnosed with cancer. Kicks to the Rescue was an event put together in order to gather funds for his treatment. The community came together on Nov. 16 to support Platinum. 

The event was hosted at Midnight Cinema Studios and it consisted of a fashion show, sneaker auction from Platinum’s very own sneaker collection, live art, and music performances by local Chicago artist. One of the ways to contribute to the cause was through sneaker donations. The sneakers were donated to giveNkind, a nonprofit that re-purposes goods to the community.

The event began promptly at 7 p.m. and it kicked off with the sounds by DJ Retro. Who was there supporting Platinum and showing love to someone who has given him lots of opportunities. 

The atmosphere of the event was energetic and high-spirited all awaiting the arrival of Platinum. One of the artists that performed was Matthew Benson better known by his stage name Matt B. 

“I’m here to support Platinum he sponsors me through Iridium and I just wanted to show my love and support to him because he means a lot to me”

Matt B

Another artist that performed was Franco G who is also the art director at Midnight Cinema Studios. He has modeled for Iridium in the past and walked the runway during the fashion show. 

“Platinum is a great friend of mine it’s really heartfelt to me and sentimental based on the fact that I lost 3 most important people in my life to cancer. So I think I speak for everyone when I say fuck cancer.”

Franco G

When Platinum arrived between performances he was brought up to the front of the crowd. Where he gave a benevolent speech and alongside his family thanking the crowd for coming out and supporting him through rough times. 

 “I see the look in his eyes I see it's not easy but I try to bring him not just motherly love but spiritual love and encourage him to be strong. I’m praying that the Lord will strengthen him because he can beat this cancer and he will beat it.”

Gwendolyn Rolle

Platinum's Mother

The event concluded after the fashion show which had the models display all the Iridium’s past clothing drops. It was evident that Platinum is loved and supported by the community.

If you’re interested in supporting Platinum you can donate here.

Ten women with a cause

BIG ENERGY

TEN ARTISTS. ONE CAUSE.

On Nov. 15, photographer Jamie Parker, Chicago southside native hosted Big Energy an event that brought together ten artist supporting planned parenthood through donations.  

Walking into the art showcase the atmosphere was vibrant. Music played, people interacted with one another, as they viewed the art all while supporting the cause. 

Art from photography to paintings hung on the walls. Bright lights were shone upon the prints and canvases as artist stood by them interacting with the patrons. 

The event was fully curated by Jamie Parker. She had been attempting to curate an event for quite some time and the opportunity finally presented itself alongside a great cause to support. 

“I wanted women who are obviously artistically talented, but also portray themselves as strong, independent women who are powerful and insanely creative.”

Parker displayed a series of photos of nude women wrapped around in a 6 foot boa constrictor.

 “I think that female nudity is so beautiful and artistic, but also so empowering for the women in front of the camera. Like here I am brave, I’m beautiful and feeling empowered.”

Alongside Parkers art, there was Lauren Versino, illustrator and designer who owns Ruben, the 6 foot boa. She was there interacting with the patrons of the event letting them take pictures with Ruben. 

29-year-old, Lauren Obermeyer, said she was walking down the street and was invited in by the lovely music and bright colors. Once inside she became familiar with the event and its cause. “I feel like I should be more active in the women's community,” said Obermeyer.

Lena Jackson, model and photographer was one of the ten artists displaying her work there as well. 

 “I’m really grateful that my art could kind of clash with my personal life and support something that means a lot to me.” 

Calvin Schaller, a 34-year-old who was there supporting the cause said, “I just think everyone needs to be treated the exact same. Being equal is a damn right and if you need a doctor for anything then you deserve to have a doctor.”

The event raised over $2,500 which all went towards planned parenthood, alongside 60 percent of the art that sold.

How to Survive a Drone Crash

That fatal moment when you crash your drone for the first time… It’s a kick in the nuts honestly. Jon’s face completely dropped and he fell silent. “Where did it land!?” “It’s on the roof…” Great, how the hell are we going to get up there?

We were out shooting Rawooh take on a 12 story mural for Artist Replete. It’s the biggest mural to date in the Pilsen neighborhood on S. Racine Ave and W. 21st St. so we just so happen to be in luck by having a massive scissor lift at hand. Hope has been restored!

We scurried our way around the corner and scraped the telephone wires getting up to the fire escape. If you’re a photographer or anything like us, a fire escape is like a playground for a kid; and it brought us back to the good ole’ days in Clark Street.

Jon saw the drone right away, PHEW. After inspection the drone was only missing a few propellers and the footage was still there. Oh and the views up there were KILLER! So naturally I had to climb the water tower on the roof. I mean, when do you even get this type of opportunity?

All in all we had our very first successful drone crash. What did we learn? Make sure you have some graffiti friends with a scissor lift.

Let’s hope we aren’t by water the next time.