I had the day off this Wednesday – I’m not a bum, I’m a freelancer, but I suppose the two overlap somewhat as far as the daily 9-5 crowd is concerned… or if you ask my parents. I figured I’d put this free time to good use so I met up with my former boss (whom I adore) for lunch. We walked through campus to her favorite restaurant and then back. Just as I was leaving my old building to jump on the El my street-style radar went off. Sure, it was a violently windy day but I knew I could make a photo work. Since I’m rarely in Lincoln Park during the day anymore the stars were already aligned in my favor. I started my blog by photographing DePaul students on my way to and from work at the Lincoln Park campus and class in the Loop. It was quite the synchronicity to run into Iliana again on a rare visit back.

Iliana has been photographed by me not once or twice, but now three times near the Fullerton El stop. Every time I see her she’s impeccably dressed, whether it’s below zero (here) or 80 degrees (here via Refinery29). Chicago needs more people like Iliana – it would make my life a hell of a lot easier. Her collar is from TopShop. I instantly recognized it since I was thisclose to buying it a few weeks ago when I went with my friend Megan, but decided to get goofy socks instead. Yeah, I admit it. I love crazy socks! But now this photo is really making me question my decision not to buy the collar…

 

One of the cool things about photographing someone over a long period of time is that I get to see how my photography skills continue to improve. I’m almost embarrassed to link to the photo I took of Iliana in November 2010, but I’m actually more proud of how dramatically my skills have improved from practicing almost daily for two years. They say practice makes perfect but I don’t think that’s true with photography. Like any creative pursuit, there’s always room for improvement.