I shot this photo at the break of dawn on the very last leg of the Chicago Night ride of 2006. It was a bike marathon that starts midnight and finishes around six in the morning. I did it with my high school batchmates Kevin Limas, Patrick Hilado (who was the consul of Chicago that time) and Alwayne Tulayba.
Eventually this photo won and came out in Time Out Chicago.
Summer of 2006, July, Chicago, IL.
Falling in love with a whole new genre in photography and listening to Thatcher Cook in Maine made me go home to Chicago yearning for an output. So I searched and volunteered as a photographer for 2 NGOs working with refugees from Somalia, Russia and Africa. I took a ton of photos following them through their summer programs. In hindsight, this was a real turning point for me as an artist, I think.
