Jeff Cagle
i am a freelance documentary and editorial photographer living in the chicago suburbs.
my portfolio is at jeffcagle.com.
get in touch: jeffrey [dot] cagle [at] gmail
Ask me anything
-
How I spent my Sunday morning: incredibly under-dressed in a church waiting on Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
-
Volume training. Pain.
-
I’m making good on something I said last year. I recently got back in touch with Ed Samaan, the teenage bodybuilder I met last May while on assignment for a feature about his state bodybuilding title. He’s put on nearly 60 pounds since I last saw him, and I’m going to check in with him periodically to document his journey as he hardens up, then cuts about 50 pounds as he preps for this year’s national competitions. This is from Day One of the project.
-
Eli may look like a tough guy, but after his initial curiosity when I snapped these, he turned and ran every time I brought my camera to my face and pointed it in his direction.
-
Soon, but not soon enough, it will be sunny and 75, I will be in shorts and a jersey, and this view will be a whole lot greener.
-
Mixed feelings this morning with my first Chicago Sun-Times cover. It’s not easy to point a camera at people who are in pain and grieving, but I hope my images helped illustrate how loved Shaun was and what the community has lost with a senseless act of violence.
-
A second grade teacher was stabbed to death late last night in a bar when he tried coming to the aid of his friend and breaking up the fight. Tonight, his friends and family gathered for a memorial service to mourn and remember their friend. I’ve been covering it all day.
-
One day on this job you will find yourself standing in an elementary school gym listening to the owner of some obscure world records talk to fifth graders about things like the importance of time, calling your parents and watching Marines die in Afghanistan, and in the back of your head you will hear David After Dentist asking “Is this real life?”
-
Earlier this month I took a step in a new direction with my photography: I bought into studio space that is shared by a few other photographers and artists. It’s a pretty sweet deal. For a fraction of what most studios in Chicago charge by the day — hell, it’s less than half what they charge for pre-daylight access — I get by the month; I just have to sign out time online. It’s got big glass doors with western exposure and access to lights, and walks out onto a deck overlooking the Fox River. Though working in a studio is completely foreign to me, I had my first shoot in there yesterday and I can tell working in there either on my own shoots or assisting others for the experience will be a nice counter-balance to my news work. I’m happy I got the invite and pushed myself to jump in feet first.
-
Hubristic and humbled
