Blog of Andrew Collings Photography: Chicago Headshot and Wedding Photographers » Documentary

Senator Durbin attends Growing Home Honore Street Farm Groundbreaking Ceremony and Graduation

Andrew Collings — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:10:21 +0000

It was a blustery but exciting day at Growing Home last week. Senator Durbin attended the groundbreaking of Growing Home’s 2nd Englewood urban farm and the first one since the Chicago City Council passed it’s “urban ag ordinance,” which makes the process of creating urban farms such as these easier. Many press members attended the event, including WBEZ’s Natalie Moore who filed this report.

The event was also a joyous occasion for the graduates and staff of Growing Home’s transitional jobs program. Later Senator Durbin got a tour of the Wood Street farm from Rebekah Silverman, Growing Home’s Associate Director.

Growing Home Benefit Dinner 2011

Andrew Collings — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:18:26 +0000

It was great to be asked to photograph the 2011 Growing Home benefit dinner at The Chicago Cultural Center. The event was a great success as always. This year’s keynote speaker was Bill Kurtis. In addition to being a legendary newsman, Kurtis has become a rancher and proponent of grass-fed beef at his ranch in Kansas, Tallgrass Beef.
Though Growing Home’s mission has always been meaningful and inspiring, it has become more so every year. As we hear more and more about the conceptual misdirection of our food, transportation, economic opportunities and plain-old livability of our city life, Growing Home’s mission becomes that much more vivid.

The guests bid on wonderful items from local and national businesses and friends of Growing Home.

Harry Rhodes, Executive Director of Growing Home

Shannon Downey (center) of Pivotal Production made sure the event was a total success!

Green Line beer was a welcome new addition to the event!

Chefs from Inspiration Kitchens provided the appetizers.

A great group of volunteers helped with every aspect of the event.

Vie Restaurant chefs provided the main courses.

Growing Home's very own Fred Daniels was honored at the event

Bill Kurtis' keynote speech was both informative and alarming.

110428 Growing Home Benefit Dinner Favorites – Images by Andrew Collings

Mayor Daley visits Growing Home

Andrew Collings — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:22:08 +0000

The great people at Growing Home had some special visitors in Mayor Richard Daley and Chief Environmental Officer Sadhu Johnston. A large number of the city’s media were there to cover the event. It’s great to see Growing Home being recognized for the work they do. The Mayor was beleaguered somewhat by some politics du jour but otherwise was very interested in the work being done by Growing Home and other transitional and green jobs businesses in Chicago.

Harry Rhodes, Growing Home Executive Director and Sadhu Johnston, Chicago's Chief Environmental Officer at Growing Home Wood Street Urban Farm.

Mayor Daley with employees of Growing Home at a market stand.

Growing Home Benefit Dinner at Chicago Cultural Center

Andrew Collings — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:02:21 +0000

I had a great time photographing and meeting up with the wonderful people people at Growing Home at their 7th annual benefit dinner. I am so fortunate to be able to work with them and see the wonderful things they do there. It was a great event, with locally and organically grown food prepared by The Balanced Kitchen, Monogramme Catering, Chef Tsadakeeyah Emmanuel, the Meatloaf Bakery and dinner prepared by Nia Mediterranean Tapas, Bistro Campagne, Charlie Trotter’s and Vie Restaurant, Eli’s Cheesecakes and Intelligentsia Coffee.

A touching and informative keynote speech was made by Rick Bayless.

I had some fun with my Totally Rad Actions post-production on many of the images in this gallery. No, the sauce wasn't really this color green!

Chefs from many restaurants, including Charlie Trotter's, participated in the food preparation.

Many Growing Home volunteers helped serve the approximately 300 guests at the event.

Chicago restauranteur Rick Bayless gave an inspirational keynote speech.

Growing Home Executive Director Harry Rhodes with SHED Studio Architects Rashmi Ramaswamy and Mike Newman and Growing Home Board President Valerie Denney.

Below is a slideshow of my favorite images. You can view the images larger and even embed the gallery in your own webpage by clicking the buttons in the bottom right corner of the gallery.

090611 Growing Home Benefit Dinner Favorites – Images by Andrew Collings

Visit to KIPP Ascend School

Andrew Collings — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:43:17 +0000

One of my most fun and interesting clients is KIPP Ascend Charter School. They are a great organization with a zeal for which I wasn’t fully prepared! The school is always buzzing and the students have a great energy. Last week they asked me to come photograph their Career Day. The professions represented ranged from paramedic to actuary and from the military to branding-placement advisor.

Growing Home Wood Street Farm

Andrew Collings — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:14:21 +0000

I had the opportunity to visit Growing Home’s wonderful Wood Street farm today. I’ve been working with the team there for almost a year. They are a great Illinois organization, founded by Les Brown 20 years ago and a source of inspiration in this difficult time for the country. In addition to photographing their farming work, I’ve been able to document the construction of their new main facility building at their Wood Street Urban farm. The new building will house a classroom, production zones and a seedling greenhouse. It has been designed with many green concepts including rain water capture and many recycled/reused materials. The 2nd floor is made out of the bleachers from an Illinois high school gym.

From the Growing Home website:

Growing Home provides job training for homeless and low-income individuals in Chicago through a social enterprise business based on organic agriculture. Our program provides experiential learning opportunities and employment in the horticulture field as well as a unique job readiness curriculum that helps reintroduces participants back into the workforce.

100% of the proceeds we make from sales of organic produce are used to improve our training program and pay for upkeep of our farm sites.

Their produce is sold via a CSA program and also at several city Farmer’s Markets. I’ve never tasted produce quite like it!

Growing Home's new facility building at the Wood Street Farm. I've photographed the building progress from this vantage point since they broke ground. In about a month I'll get a shot of the completed building and then post a gallery showing the progress.

Growing Home Executive Director Harry Rhodes in front of the new building.

America SCORES Benefit

Andrew Collings — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:11:42 +0000

I had a great time photographing one of my favorite Chicago non-profits, the Chicago chapter of America SCORES. They provide a great opportunity for kids to play soccer together and also to develop creative writing skills. I have done some refereeing for them over the years and I was happy to contribute my photo skills at their annual benefit dinner. Refereeing kids is no walk in the park but it’s a lot of fun! Here’s a little about their organization:

The second annual Red Carpet Poetry Slam took place on January 29th at the School of the Art Institute Ballroom. The evening featured poetry from select poet athletes in the SCORES program who performed their original pieces for over 200 guests. The delighted audience was oftentimes moved at the poignancy and brilliance of the youths’ words, hearing first-hand what troubles and inspires today’s urban kids. In addition to the performances, America SCORES Chicago honored two of its finest supporters with the prestigious Calliope Award: former board member Leif Elsmo, and ChiTown Futbol President Jeff Welsh.

Later, guests danced to the jazzy tunes of the Tammy McCann Quartet, snacked on delicious hors-d’oeuvres and helped raise more than $45,000 for SCORES, allowing us to broaden our reach farther than ever.