Munster Police Explorer Bryan Buck (left), 18, of St. John, Ind., works on an activity with Jeff Cook, 21, of Munster, Ind., during the Munster Police Explorers meeting held at the Munster Police Station, Wednesday, September 22, 2004. Cook is the chief of the Munster Police Explorers, and has been with the group for four years.

Before I knew it, I was completely out of breath, chasing a criminal with officers between houses as a police helicopter hovered loudly overhead. I had to hop three chain link fences before I caught up with them, my cameras flailing wildly at my sides. A snarling K9 unit dripped saliva onto the grass just near the criminal as officers pinned him down with their knees and applied the cuffs. Flashlights darted around the yard and flared my lens with beautiful blue and purple hues. As I framed the criminal’s face in my viewfinder, he smiled at me through bloody teeth and muttered, “Your deadline is in a few minutes, make sure to file this one first.”

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The Robert N. Stewart Bridge in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, August 13, 2014. NASCAR celebrity Tony Stewart, who grew up in Columbus and still resides there, was involved in a fatal accident at a Sprint car race Saturday in New York. Driver Kevin Ward was killed when Stewart’s car hit the young driver while confronting Stewart on the track.

Here’s a contradictory thought that I’d like you to ponder for a few moments: “As a photographer, I thrive on lack of direction.” On the surface, this phrase doesn’t make much sense. After all, how can once excel at anything without direction? How can one come away with anything worthwhile without a plan?

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Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne headlines the America’s Most Wanted Festival at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill., Saturday, August 10, 2013.

In honor of hop-hop artist Lil Wayne’s triumphant Chicago-area return tomorrow to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, I dug out this set that I shot almost a year ago to the day at the same venue for the Chicago Sun-Times. As with most concerts, I was given the first three songs to get whatever I could of the spectacle before being whisked back to the venue gates by Live Nation reps. Due to a communication breakdown with the aforementioned reps, however, I only got escorted to my shooting position at front of house (the sound and lighting board control area) about 20 seconds before Lil Wayne began his set, leading to me juggling lenses and extenders in the pitch darkness as the audience screamed into the humid air around me.

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Lightning strikes the Willis Tower following a severe thunderstorm as seen from Solidarity Drive, Monday, June 30, 2014.

When I first captured lightning striking the antennae of Chicago’s Willis (Sears) Tower late in the season last September, I immediately made it a goal to capture that image again, but from a cleaner angle and with a cleaner lens!

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