Gods and Heroes of the Aegean: PANDORA
Distant Era presents Sarah Scanlon as Pandora, our first portrait in Gods and Heroes of the Aegean, a new series about Greek mythology.…
The Gallery
The Vigilant Knight
In the golden light between day and night stands the worthy knight pledged to good and…
Anime Portraiture 2: Madoka Magica
Creating superheroic anime composites part 2: traveling through time with Madoka Magica's Homura Akemi…
Storyteller Megan Wells as Miep Gies
In February 2024, professional storyteller Megan Wells did her first Distant Era session, in which we photographed four…
EVEN’S ELEGY Gel Portraits #1: Mercer
Distant Era teams up with film producer D. Matthew Beyer to create colored gel portraits for…
The Banshee
Curating the final image in the Portraits from a Distant Era series as a bridge to…
Smaug the Magnificent
Smaug is the final image to be presented from Erin Gallagher’s October 2020 photo session, which…
The Witches
Looking back on an unreleased Halloween-inspired image from Hauntings from a Distant Era, 2019…
T’Challa of the Jazz Age
It is the age of jazz. The sound of swing electrifies the speakeasies: Ellington and Armstrong,…
The People of Light and Shadow: The Pixie
Continuing Distant Era's brand new series, THE PEOPLE OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, an exploration of fey…
Captain America of the Jazz Age
This is an image of actor Jennifer Mohr as Captain America for designer Erin Gallagher’s “gender-bent…
Rendezvous by Moonlight
A very special surprise birthday commission with a sweet couple whose engagement I once photographed. And…
EVEN’S ELEGY Gel Portraits #4: Ethan alternate
Distant Era teams up with film producer D. Matthew Beyer to create colored gel portraits for…
The People of Light and Shadow: The Harlequin
Continuing Distant Era's brand new series, THE PEOPLE OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, an exploration of fey…
Bride of the Silver Grail
How the spontaneous casting of an on-set guest spontaneously kicked off Distant Era's first studio portraiture…
Angel in the Architecture
In which we reflect on Distant Era's premier Urban Fantasy series of 2019, featuring Carlos Serna…
Theatre
Northlight Gala 2024: A Starlit Soirée
Distant Era photographs Northlight Theatre’s 2024 gala, “A Starlit Soireé,” held at the Chicago Botanic Gardens on September 26.…
THE TEMPEST Production and Press Photography with Idle Muse Theatre Company
Distant Era photographs press and production photos for Idle Muse Theatre Company's THE TEMPEST, by William Shakespeare.…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Poster Session with Babes With Blades Theatre Company
Distant Era photographs the poster session for Babes With Blades Theatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.…
Photographing the Poster Image for The S Paradox
Distant Era photographs the show poster for Babes With Blades Theatre Company's production of The S Paradox, by Jillian Leff.…
This Music Should Not Be, by Wendy A. Schmidt
Distant Era photographs "This Music Should Not Be," by playwright Wendy Schmidt, for Chicago's Rhino Fest 2024.…
Headshots with Shellie DiSalvo
Headshot season continues at Distant Era with a new batch for the fabulous Shellie DiSalvo! Longtime readers of The All Worlds Traveller may remember Shellie as “The Morrigan” from Distant Era’s last…
Headshots with Jennifer L. Mickelson
In late March, we made new headshots for Jennifer Mickelson—an actor, intimacy designer, playwright, SAFD Actor-Combatant, and more! Jen's worked with theaters all over Chicago, including Promethean Theatre Ensemble, Citadel Theatre, Broken…
What the Weird Sisters Saw, Archival Session
In early April Distant Era photographed the archival session for Idle Muse Theatre Company's production of What the Weird Sisters Saw. In this post, we share a selection of color and black-and-white…
What the Weird Sisters Saw, with Idle Muse Theatre Company
Distant Era photographs Idle Muse Theatre Company's production of What the Weird Sisters Saw at Edge Theater Off Broadway…
Revisiting Patchwork Drifter: A 2015 Speed Re-Edit
Revisiting an image of actor Elyse Dawson from 2015's Patchwork Drifter, we speed edit the photograph with today's skills and technology to…
Journal
Northern Lights on the Lakefront
In which Distant Era spontaneously captures the Northern Lights in Chicago over Lake Michigan on Thursday, October 10, 2024.…
Happy Independence Day Weekend
During Independence Day week, we photographed two theatre shoots, prepared for Gen Con portraiture, and traveled to Michigan for sunsets and fireworks over the lake…
Introducing Gods and Heroes of the Aegean
Distant Era previews our latest series, Gods and Heroes of the Aegean, a photography compositing series about Greek mythology.…
Journey to the Eclipse, 2024
I saw the 2024 eclipse at a rest area off of I-70 around Greenfield, Indiana. I’d scouted this place out on the way to Dayton a couple days prior, hoping to pull…
Learning from Painting
Distant Era looks at the creative process through from the perspective of hobby miniature painting after an incident with a tornado in 2013…
Travellers
Photographing Paintings with Artist Liz Radford
Distant Era photographs the paintings of artist Liz Radford and the process behind photographing art for faithful color and even light…
A Conversation With Featured Makeup Artist Rose Nobs
We discuss makeup and life with The People of Light and Shadow featured makeup artist Rose Nobs…
Mini Session with Deana Vazquez
A birthday mini session as consolation for a rescheduled shoot…
Genre Bending With Rachel
Taking a break from The People of Light and Shadow series to look at characters from fairytales and folklore from another perspective with cosplayer/performer…
Fantasy With Friends
This week, we speak with three creators and image makers of costumed fantasy photography sessions—Tabitha Burch, Mary-Kate Arnold, and Allen Castillo—to hear their stories,…
Game & Hobby
Distant Era Portraiture at Gen Con with Belle Westaby
Distant Era photographs multidisciplinary artist and cosplayer Belle Westaby as Nyx from the Hades video game at our Gen Con 2024 mini sessions.…
Distant Era Portraiture at Gen Con 2024 with Mike Burd
Distant Era had the honor of photographing cosplayer Mike Burd at Gen…
Distant Era Portraiture at Gen Con 2024 with Indy
A repeat client every year from 2022 through 2024, Indy is not…
Distant Era Portraiture at Gen Con 2024 with Brownie Knight
At Gen Con 2024, Distant Era photographed three mini sessions with cosplayer…
Gen Con 2016–2024: Working the Convention
In our final Gen Con retrospective, we look back at the years…