Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 15, 2009

Last night was the closing performance of the Court Theatre's production of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck. As was with every performance during the play's month-long run, the crowd was fantastic, and many of the patrons were gracious enough to allow me make a portrait of them for the installation.

268, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

269, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

270, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Below is a shot of Art Shay, whom I had the opportunity to meet and talk with for a few minutes. I can't express enough how much I admire his work, and will follow his advice to 'just keep shooting' as if it were scripture.

264, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

And this is how the completed installation looks, 270 images strong. It'll be on display until March 17th, at which point the images will be available for free for whomever would like to claim one.

Wall Installation-Complete, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

As ever, the completed set can viewed here. Yes, I know the numbering is off. Don't judge me.

And finally, thanks to Gapers Block, for featuring the project on their web site and not editing out the line referring to Dick Van Dyke.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 14, 2009

Hot damn.

248, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

252, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

One more day to go, nine more photos to shoot and hang, and the whole shebang will come to an end. Peep the Progress over here, as tomorrow the installation shall be COMPLETED.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 13, 2009

Here's a few shots from Friday night at the MCA. This being the final weekend of The Wild Duck in the Court Theatre means it is also the final weekend for the portrait project. Still, after all these sessions there's always, always, an abundance of interesting folks to photograph. Check them all out right this way.

238, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

244, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

242, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 12, 2009

Looking at the complete collection of portraits from the Wild Duck project, it's pretty difficult not to see similarities between certain images. Sometimes the likeness is thematic while other times it's purely compositional. Rarely (OK, never) is it planned, and usually not discovered until after the fact when the images have been printed out and hung on the wall. Thursday night had two such instances. The first photo looks like it could shack up with this one and have a real nice life together. The second one and this one are like distant cousins who only see each other once a year during the holidays, and forget how they're related in the first place. The bottom two still need a match. Thankfully there's still three days to go; plenty of time for an accidental pairing to occur...

230, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

225, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

228, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

229, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 11, 2009

The final week of The Wild Duck portrait project at the MCA in underway. Although I've now been to the museum many, many evenings photographing people in basically the same setting night after night, opportunities still emerge for trying different things, or for framing subjects in a slightly different manor. The first image below is a prime example, as the subject was sitting in such a place as to allow for being shot through the bake-stand on the concession table in the Court Theatre lobby. I'm Positive that, in past nights, other folks have been sitting where she was, but it had never occurred to me to try a shot like this. Repetition breeds Experimentation. The remaining three images are a bit more Wonted (again with the thesaurus!) , but still fit the overall theme and feel of the project, which can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here.

218, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

216, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

214, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

213, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Four Weeks Down, One More to Go

Here's how the portrait project installation looks after four weeks. After consulting an abacus and carrying zeros and minussing negative integers and then applying Pascal's Theorem (math is Not my strong suit) it has been deduced that there is still, at the very least, 64 spots to go, with room to expand. By next Sunday, when all is said and done, I'll be damned if that wall isn't full as the dickens with portraits.

Wall Installation, Week 4, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

If you can't make it down to the MCA to see all of the simulacrums (thank you very much, Dr. Thesaurus) in person, then click here to see them on your computer screen.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 8, 2009

Sunday's performance of The Wild Duck at the MCA's Court Theatre brought the fourth week of both the play and the portrait project to a close. Simply stated, this means by this time next week the portrait installation will be complete, which is great and all, but it also means that the opportunity to intimately photograph such amazing subjects in such a unique setting will also cease to be. Curses! Well, rather than focusing on the Sad State of Future Affairs (SSFA), please focus your attention on the photos below, all taken before yesterday's matinee performance.

205, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

203, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

199, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

193, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Perhaps you'd like to see the entire set of portraits? Yes? Well, by all means then, click on the following sequence of nonsense:
¥´∂ßøºªµ∆¨†©ƒ∂´∑œåß∂磢∫˚æπø“‘

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 7, 2009

Below are some photos of folks attending Saturday's matinee performance of the Wild Duck at the Court Theatre. The pensive nature of these portraits is in direct contrast to the Spring-like vibe at the MCA, and throughout the city of Chicago in general, as temperatures were well above normal for February.

184, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

183, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

190, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

192, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

As always, there's more where that came from.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 5, 2009

At the MCA last night the patrons' glances leered in every direction, with some folks looking to their left...

170, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

173, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

While some eyes went right...

177, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

178, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

And other times they peered straight down, resulting in their reflection returning the favor...

166, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Peep all the glances here.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 4, 2009

With the MCA project being past the half-way point, it's become apposite to set rules or boundaries on certain evenings in order to keep the portraits fresh and viable. The one variable that will Never Change is that the subjects will not be asked to pose, ever. Candidness is key. That said, the approach to taking the actual photographs can change, so last night I gave myself the 'assignment' of ensuring that I got at least one shot of a subject from a low angle, and one where the subject is perfectly centered and looking straight at the camera. The first two images are the results. In the remaining three shots the space surrounding the subjects is given equal importance, with varying consequences.
In other news, last night after looking at the installation this gentleman approached me and said, 'You're a Hitchcockian, aren't you? Your sole concern is on faces...' I took this to mean he thought I was Psycho. To see the entire set, Click P for Photos.

155, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

164, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

161, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

160, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

163, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, Installation Update (All the Same)

Below is a shot of the portrait installation in the Court Theatre after three weeks. From a distance it looks pretty-well filled in, but believe you me, there's still a long way to go. Two weeks and (hopefully) about 120 more portraits, specifically.
To see all the portraits thus far, click ¡here! Also, if you happen to be reading this and plan to be in Chicagotown an March 17th, please come on down to the Museum of Contemporary Art between the hours of 2 and 8PM to take one of these portraits home with you, free of charge. If you are in one of the portraits I'd love for you to have it, and if you're not but would like one anyway, that'd be great too. Or, if you're in the neighborhood and would like to simply stop in and say hello and not take home a photograph (even though they will be FREE), I would not judge you.

Wall Installation Week 3, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, February 1, 2009

Sunday, besides being the half-way point for the MCA portrait project, was another bright and sunny winter's day in Chicago. This meant more natural light poured through the Court Theatre windows than I'm used to, which allowed me to experiment with shapes and silhouettes as patrons stood near the glass. The first shot is a direct result--a portrait not representative of the subject, per se, but one that is more about form, light, and contrast. That's how I'm going to try and sell it, anyway. The framing in the second shot can only happen by happy accident, when the shutter is continually pressed without looking through the viewfinder. The third was carefully framed, as the subject was standing near the winding staircase, allowing me to position the camera between two support beams of the bannister. If you're so inclined, see the entire set, in binary form, by clicking here.

153, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

150, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

149, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

Pleasant Enough All the Same, January 31, 2009

Maybe because it was a matinee performance of 'The Wild Duck,' and maybe because, for Chicagoans' twisted standards anyway, the sunny, mid-thirty degree weather felt really good, but the zeitgeist of The Court Theatre lobby on Saturday afternoon was blithe and welcoming. You could sense that people felt really good (except Stefano, who was "sick" from being out too late the night before). This made for some great portrait-making-opportunities. Here's a few that I don't feel I screwed up too badly:

131, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

132, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

139, originally uploaded by Christopher Hiltz.

See the rest of the photos I've taken for project here. See a photo I wish I'd taken here.