A good street photography exercise for me is to find, frame and shoot quickly as I explore the city. Here is an image found while the bus I was riding on stopped to pick up passengers.

As I waited in an old Chicago neighborhood on a warm sunny day for my client to arrive the buildings and doorways came alive with their stories of lives over the years. Here is a section of the kind of fire escape that once was seen everywhere. Now they are rare. I wondered if it has ever been used.

This scene was screaming to me to be captured. More color, more detail, more lines. I had to force myself to stop.

“Cityscape #104275. Bitter Cold But Still A Beauty” was photographed from the 15th floor of a hospital campus building in downtown Chicago. A peak of Lake Michigan can be seen in the distance.

“Couple At The Clipper In Another World” is a late night scene at the California Clipper in Chicago.

Jorma Kaukonen at Delmark’s Riverside Studio in Chicago for Dave Specter’s new blues album.

The Chris Greene Quartet, CGQ, performs their new album release, “Play SPACE” at SPACE in Evanston, IL.

Dan Chase plays as Amanda Wolff sings Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” at Chris Anderson’s Jazz Record Art Collective, JRAC, in Chicago.

“Muddy, Horns & The Clock” From my town to yours…I am using the public mural designed by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, the holiday horns hanging over State Street from Macy’s, and the original Marshall Field & Co. clock to send out my Happy New Year wishes to all.

Here is a slideshow that documents some of the 45 performances that Chicago’s Chris Anderson organized for his creation, the Jazz Record Art Collective – JRAC – during 2018. The guy never sleeps. Knows his […]

It was almost Fall. Time for sweet corn and ripe tomatoes at this favorite farm stand. Add some potatoes, fresh garlic, a few cucumbers and zucchini, then rush home for the best salad of the season.

The exhibit includes 6 Harvey Tillis photographs on display and for sale as large archival pigment prints of street photography in Chicago. They are “Broadway Detour”, “Family Outing”, “Blue Line Bus Stop”, “Sons Salute Dad at Blues Fest”, “Serenading Sam’s Wife” and “Superpawn Chicago”.

Reminded Of Man Ray by Harvey Tillis

“I Shoot What I See” by Harvey Tillis depicts sections and angles of Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavillion against nearby Chicago architecture. Available now in the SHOP

“Everything Old Is New Again” depicts the Michigan Avenue side of The Chicago Cultural Center, formerly the Chicago Public Library. This is a major center of activities including free concerts and art exhibits. 

Salute to legendary blues man Carey Bell by his son’s Lurrie and Steve with help from Dave Specter during the 2018 Chicago Blues Fest. The evening featured tributes to Delmark Records and its artists for 65 years of great jazz and blues music.

This corner grocery store was the only building at an intersection in a far southside, low income suburb. The other three corners were empty lots. No customer traffic outside. Dark inside, yet open for business.

The space between these two buildings is what attracted me. If I could convert the colors to BW, make the image more graphic and a little abstract, I could get to where this scene made me feel. See? Pre-visualizing works!

A pawn shop on Fullerton Avenue in Chicago at the end of the day. Shops like this are scattered throughout the city and cater to a wide variety of cultures, ethnic groups, social and income classes. They may often be open until midnight six nights each week plus at least 5 hours on Sunday.

It was a humid, hot evening as we enjoyed another couple while eating on the patio at one of the best, funkiest Cuban restaurant’s I’ve ever been to, 90 Miles From Cuba, on Armitage. Loud music, noisy people, delicious empanadas, ceviche and a bottle of red. Dusk turned to night. People, cars and kids floated by. So memorable. A special time.

“Night Music” Eric Schneider and Matt Ferguson at Andy’s Jazz Club for the 9th Annual Chi-Town Jazz Festival Supporting Hunger Relief. I have applied my changing vision and skills to documenting this fundraising event all nine years. 14 different bands donated their talents and 5 different venues donated their rooms all around Chicago. Great music for a worthy cause.

The Saalik Ziyad Group performs Sam Cooke’s 1963 album, “Mr. Soul”, at Chris Anderson’s Jazz Record Art Collective (JRAC) in Chicago.

Party’s Over by Harvey Tillis. A night of jazz had ended, everyone gone. Closing time. Use a variety of filters and adjustments to make the image feel the way I felt. Blur the lines between straight photography and a sketch.

“Intersection” is a simple study of lines, space, and meaning set against the open sky. There are times when simple is a nice break from moody, mysterious, dark or busy. That time for me is now.

Here is a sample of my street photography before I knew what it was, before I knew I was a practitioner.

Night photography is my favorite. Rain makes it even better. Creative options abound. Time to explore when shooting and again when processing.

“Between Sets” – This image was processed using a variety of filters and adjustments to create my version of a scene and style Lautrec might have painted in a Montmartre night club in the 1890s. 

“Chance Of Snow” A winter scene in Chicago. Sometimes it takes a while to tease out the look and feel of an image. Musicians might experience this when they see sheet music they want to play, but haven’t worked through it enough to make it sound the way they feel it should sound. Same is true with photos I create.

Shot on a perfect chilly early winter night. On Lake Michigan while cruising off Navy Pier. Fireworks were a perfect addition. Happy New Year to all.

Waiting. For her ride? For friends meeting here, in front of a music club? For the bus? Just contemplating and regrouping before proceeding with her life? I’ll never know.

The title of this image is self explanatory. I was there, waiting, looked up, saw this, shot it, and as I checked my exposure settings the elevator doors opened and out popped my client.

Stage hands remove, re-set, test, then wait to do it again, and again.

“Equally adept in classical and jazz contexts, Tomeka Reid predominantly finds herself in experimental and improvisatory settings and composes for a wide range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble.”

Paris 1890’s Jazz Club Musicians by Harvey Tillis. Some say this is a long lost sketch found in the stacks of a Paris library by a little known artist of the day, Marvin Lowtreck, while he was living in poverty in Paris in the late 1800s… And, the story goes, some other guy copied his style and name and became better known. Well maybe.