Portfolio
Selected Work
Three bodies of work spanning four continents — united by a search for light, structure, and the qualities of place that resist easy description.
Chicago, Illinois
Photographer — Twenty years of practice across nature, landscape, architecture, and people
Portfolio
Three bodies of work spanning four continents — united by a search for light, structure, and the qualities of place that resist easy description.
Forthcoming Project
A project in development, 2026
I live with aphantasia — a condition in which the mind produces no visual images. When I close my eyes, there is nothing to see. I cannot conjure a face, a room, or a landscape I love.
My camera is not a creative accessory. It is an extension of memory itself. Every photograph I take is the only way I will ever see that moment again.
Remnant is a forthcoming photographic project centered on one of the rarest ecosystems in North America — a protected virgin prairie, a fragment of something that once covered an entire region, now almost entirely gone. I intend to photograph it the way my condition requires me to photograph everything I love: as if I will never see it again.
Some places hold things that very few places hold. I have something that very few people have. That is why it calls to me.
About
Agra, India
Photography, for me, is not a hobby. It is the only way I remember what I have seen.
I am a Chicago-based photographer with over twenty years of practice across travel, nature, landscape, architectural detail, and portraiture. My work spans four continents, with a sustained focus on light, composition, and the qualities of place that resist easy description.
I studied photography under Richard Stromberg, founder of Chicago Photography Classes, whose teaching centered on the psychological relationship between photographer and subject. I have also trained in woodworking and woodturning at the Chicago School of Woodworking — a practice that has deepened my understanding of craft, material, and the integrity of making.
I am rooted in Chicago's creative community through two decades of involvement with organizations including Café Teatro Batey Urbano, 826CHI, and Chicago Public Schools.
Contact
Inquiries regarding the Remnant project, commissions, or author portraiture welcome.
gerardopelayo.photo@gmail.com
