usiness

Black

(D

Oak Park native Steven Gross'
unusual wedding photography has
Chicago buzzing.

AARON HALABE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Steven Gross shot this
self-portrait.

he world is a colorful place, but Steven Gross'
camera lens normally captures his surroundings
in black and white. It's one reason why the Oak
Park native is enjoying a reputation as one of
Chicago's most creative free-lance photographers.
Mr. Gross, 39, is known in photographic circles as
an avant garde art photographer. It's a characteri-
zation he likes. When he shoots weddings, for ex-
ample, he rarely uses the standard backdrops and
he emphasizes candids over formal compositions.
Sometimes off-beat, his wedding work is often cap-
tivating and creative. He captures a wide range of nuptial
moments from the silly to the sublime.
In one of his shots, several groomsmen adjust their cuffs
and cufflinks. In another, a group of women represent-
ing several family generations attends to a bride. Yet an-
other photo shows a bride trying to fend off an attack from
a squirt gun.
Mr. Gross' clients give him nearly free artistic reign, but
" he avoids traditional
shots like ring-clad
hands and cake-cut-
ting ceremonies.
"When I get to a
wedding, I don't fol-
low a regular format,"
he said. "I follow my
heart. I'll take any
special shots my
clients want, but I
don't work on autopi-
lot. I shoot with a real
passion."
Anna Dibble and
Dan James were
looking for something
, unique when they
went shopping for a photographer for their August wed-
ding. The Grand Rapids couple chose Mr. Gross because
they wanted their wedding pictures to be more artistic
than typical wedding shots.

"We wanted pictures that would capture the emotion
and mood of the day, not just document who was there,"
Ms. Dibble said. "From what we saw of Steven's work,
that's what he does. It might sound cliche and just like a
Kodak commercial, but he seems to be able to capture the
moment."
Mr. Gross says black and white photography creates an
archival quality that suggests the importance of captur-
ing an event for posterity. It also allows him to fine-tune
the images during film processing.
"I manipulate my prints by hand using special printing
techniques," Mr. Gross said. "When a machine processes
color film, it uses an average exposure. It can't put any
heart and soul into a photograph. I'm able to accentuate
or de-accentuate the various aspects of a shot."
These manipulations, he said, appeal to his clients.
"The people who want the type of work I do are a lot like
me. They have the same sensibilities about art," Mr. Gross
said.
Many of Mr. Gross' clients are fellow photographers,
artists, graphic designers and musicians. He says they
share his "creative vision" and have an intuitive under-
standing of the artistic integrity of his work.
"I love to create for the creators," Mr. Gross said. "Cre-
ative people are different ... they really respond to my work.
I bend over backwards for people like that."
Mr. Gross charges an $1,800 artistic fee plus expenses
for wedding photography. Print charges are additional. He
estimates his average total wedding fee is $5,000.
Newlyweds Amy Rule and Rahm Emanuel shopped
around before selecting Mr. Gross to shoot their wedding.
They considered the quality of his work and decided the
price was worth it. They say they were not disappointed.
"Steven's shots don't look like wedding photographs, yet
they're photographs of a wedding," Ms. Rule said. "He was
incredibly effective at catching not only the important pic-
tures, but also the mood of the day in an artistic way."
Ms: Rule, a Peace Corps staffer, and Mr. Emanuel, a po-
litical strategist for President Clinton, say they were im-
pressed with Mr. Gross' professionalism.
"He was easy to work with. I didn't have to run around

)