Jack Siegel is a Chicago-based photographer whose ongoing projects include First Amendment activity, jazz and blues musicians, and urban landscapes.  

“Smiling Phases, going places
Even when they bust you
Keep on smiling through and through
And you’ll be amazed at the gaze on their faces
As they sentence you”
— Traffic, Smiling Phases, from Heaven Is in Your Mind
“When you take a camera down to Michigan Ave. and point it at what’s happening, you’re still not showing “reality.” You’re showing that highly seductive area that’s in front of your camera. ”
— Film Director Haskell Wexler, From a 2012 Interview with Roger Ebert
“The camera is a frontier in itself. You can only get to the other side by forgetting yourself, momentarily”
— Martine Franck

A Brief Bio

I am a Chicago-based photographer who picked up a camera late in life. I was never interested in family snapshots

I photograph:

(a). First Amendment Activity (demonstrations, marches, political campaigns). Although this is traditionally a documentary subject, I view it as a controlled form of street photography. It includes architecture, drama, emotion, graphics, human interactions, and portraiture.

(b). Primarily Jazz and Blues 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 60-year interest in all forms of music.

(c). Architectural and Urban Environments.  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.

(d). Cemeteries. I like the mood that they evoke.

(e). Mass Transit Systems.

(f). Halloween Parades and Circuses.

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 covering my work in Chicago, as well as my Detours from Chicago.  It includes my photographs and commentary.  http://www.chicagoobserations.com

I am in my ninth year in the Great Books program at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center.  My favorite books read in the program include Aristotle’s De Anima, Dante’s Commedia, Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Homer’s Odyssey, Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals, Plato’s Republic, Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, and all of the Greek tragedies. The worst book I have ever read is James Joyce’s Ulysses, but his Portrait of an Artist was excellent.

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