Some photographers explore cities through their neglected places. At personal risk and sometimes legal jeopardy, they look for beauty in forgotten and faded locales. (Credit: Jerry Olejniczak)

Some photographers explore cities through their neglected places. At personal risk and sometimes legal jeopardy, they look for beauty in forgotten and faded locales. Meet Jerry Olejniczak, one such photographer in search of “Abandoned Chicagoland.”

A Chronolog station in the wild. (Courtesy of Chronolog)

Monitoring stations have been set up at various parks and preserves in the Chicago region for visitors to snap photos, which are then stitched together in a time-lapse series to document environmental changes. 

(Courtesy Whitney Bradshaw / “Outcry”)

Since January 2018, Whitney Bradshaw has photographed more than 375 women who participated in her “Scream Sessions.” All portraits are now on display together for the first time in a new exhibit at the McCormick Gallery called “Outcry.”

(Courtesy WTTW’s “Chicago Stories,” 2000)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s exactly what Lynn Orman Weiss’ traveling exhibition does, sharing through photos how women have contributed to one of the most influential music genres.

Now through June 27, the Logan Square Blue Line station platform is a subterranean gallery featuring a selection of photographs from “The Logan Square Book — Gentrification and Preservation in a Chicago Neighborhood.” (WTTW News)

Inside the Logan Square Blue Line CTA station, a subterranean gallery features a selection of photographs from a new book about gentrification and preservation in the neighborhood, which was, for decades, a predominantly Latino community.

(Courtesy the estate of Vivian Maier)

When she died 12 years ago, photographer Vivian Maier went from anonymous to fairly famous. Now the onetime North Shore nanny is receiving more posthumous praise, this time for a show of her mostly unseen color photographs of local people and places. 

Martin Luther King Jr. photograph by Bernard Kleina. (Courtesy of the Elmhurst Art Museum)

A new exhibit at the Elmhurst Art Museum is using photography to explore Chicago’s fair housing history and features rare color photos of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Chicago Freedom Movement.

A still image from video shows the late Jim Tilmon as host of “Our People.” (WTTW)

From 1968 to 1972, WTTW aired a groundbreaking weekly show hosted by the late Jim Tilmon. Until recently, we thought all but a couple of episodes had been lost. Chicago author, photographer and architecture critic Lee Bey helps us blow the dust off five of the interviews we recently rediscovered.

Chicago photographer Jeff Dahlgren takes a portrait at Throop Studio. (WTTW News)

Whether you loved it or hated it, a school picture day was something everyone had growing up. But that isn’t the case for some Chicago-area students during the pandemic. How one local couple is recreating the tradition.

Vashon Jordan Jr. (WTTW News)

The protests that swept across Chicago this summer had plenty of cameras on them, but who was behind the camera?

A mural in Chicago featured in the new book “Boarded Up Chicago: Storefront Images Days After the George Floyd Riots.” (WTTW News)

A father and son documenting the city’s reaction to the police killing of George Floyd turn their images into a new book.

Alison Newberry and Matt Sparapani in Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. (Courtesy of Alison Newberry and Matt Sparapani)
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Matt Sparapani and Alison Newberry weren’t planning to be in Chicago this summer. But like many of us, they had to rethink their plans. What the local teachers have learned about the natural areas of Chicago.

Steve Schapiro speaks with WTTW News.

He took memorable pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and traveled with writer James Baldwin. Steve Schapiro talks about what he witnessed in the United States back then — and what he is seeing today.

The Museum of Contemporary Photography is rolling out resistance. That’s the theme of their long-delayed show that just opened on the Columbia College campus in the Loop. We go for a look.

Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders’ photograph of the first earthrise witnessed by humans. (NASA)

Apollo 8 astronauts were the first to ever witness an earthrise, a view of the planet that put its fragility into perspective and helped propel the environmental movement.

(Credit: Mark‌ ‌Hersch‌)

Photographer Mark‌ ‌Hersch‌ ‌contrast‌s the busy streets‌ ‌of the‌ ‌early‌ ‌1900s‌ ‌with ‌the‌ ‌empty‌ ‌streets‌ ‌today‌ ‌to‌ ‌capture‌ ‌the ‌pandemic — and provide a sense of hope.‌ ‌We hit State Street to see just how he does it.