Jack Siegel is a Chicago-based photographer whose practice includes architectural and urban landscape photography.  Jack uses this site to highlight his photographs and thoughts about Chicago, its people, its architecture, and its culture.

A Brief Bio

I am a Chicago-based photographer who picked up a camera late in life. I was never interested in family snapshots even though a case can be made that photographs of those you know may be the only photographs with any “true” meaning.  

I photograph musicians. While many photographers capture images of the group, I enjoy capturing images of individual players. My objective is to create a photograph that comes as close to a studio portrait as possible even though the image is made during a live performance. My interest in musicians as photographic subjects comes out of my 50-year interest in all forms of music.

I also enjoy architectural and urban photography.  I am more interested in the lighting and structures than the people who populate urban environments, but if people are present, no problem.  In terms of philosophy, photography is all about light, form, and curation. When photographing any locale, I have succeeded if someone likes the photograph, but doesn’t recognize the location.

I currently have an Age of Trump project underway, with 300 or so prints to date. I have covered events in New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

I began my career as a tax lawyer and still consider myself to be a card-carrying member of that brotherhood.  Along the way, I also have taught, developed software, and provided consulting services to nonprofit organizations.  I have a BBA and JD from the University of Wisconsin, a LLM (Tax) from New York University, and an MBA from Northwestern University.  I am licensed to practice law in Illinois and Wisconsin.  I am licensed as a CPA in Wisconsin.

I am the author of A Desktop Guide for Nonprofit Directors, Officers, and Advisors: Doing Good While Avoiding Trouble, which was published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons. 

I author Show and Tell, a photoblog that covers my work in Chicago, as well as my Detours from Chicago.  It includes my photographs and commentary.  http://www.chicagoobserations.com

I am a third-year student in the Great Books program at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center.   

In the Summer 2018, I taught a workshop on converting color images to black and whites ones at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at Northwestern University.   In 2019, I am teaching a course on Travel Photography for Osher. I also participate in a weekly workshop at Osher.

Member: American Society of Media Photographers, and the National Press Photographers Association. I am a member of LensCulture 2018-19 Master Class.