Gary, Indiana...

You may remember this little ditty as sung by little Ronnie Howard in his pre-Opie days... sort of paints a picture of Gary, Indiana, as a charming little town, which it might have been long ago. Today, its famous mainly for crime and blight, its population having dropped by almost half since its peak in the 60s. It's always been sort of odd, sharing a name like I do, as I remember wanting it to be a really great place when I first heard about it when I was a kid, and being told it was not a place anyone would want to go. I have to say that, despite the squalor, we didn't really feel we were at risk at all -- maybe because it was Easter Sunday in the afternoon.
On the way back from Chicago this past weekend, Tia and I spent a few chilly hours exploring the city, especially the downtown area, where it seems most of the buildings are abandoned or collapsing. The shot above is inside the old post Office, just for example. More from that shoot, soon, and probably a return visit when the weather warms up more.

The contrast was more stark after having spent four days in some of the nicest areas of Chicago, with a couple forays into the more run-down parts of the west side. Was lucky enough to work with Moon Marie, Jessa, Ami Amnesia, Mina Mechante, and Stephanie Cain while in Chicago. Thanks to my various location hosts as well -- I'll leave their names out to protect them from an onslaught of requests, but they were very generous and hospitable to be sure. Edits from those sessions soon, I hope!