Poetry The breakup Jon Hillenbrand, February 7, 2009December 30, 2015 The blink of the stop light and the metronome of the wipers compete for control over the beat of my heart as I think of my final moments with her. I’m writing her features on my mind so I don’t forget everything important to me now. I feel her close…
Photography The Big Blue Jon Hillenbrand, February 6, 2009October 17, 2019 It may read as arrogant superiority and like I possess delusions of grandeur, to quote Han Solo, but I was recently challenged on two separate occasions in fields that I dominate; movie quotes and holding my breath. Not to oversell myself, but challenging me in these events is like challenging…
Photography Customized Jon Hillenbrand, December 16, 2008October 17, 2019 So because my car window is frozen closed, and because I enjoy the irony of eating fast food after doing yoga, I found myself in joyous spirits inside a McDonald’s just now. And after making the girl behind the counter smile politely at my super charming self, I sat down…
Photography The Perfect Holiday Gift Jon Hillenbrand, December 6, 2008October 17, 2019 You know how every holiday you get these catalogs because you are on “the list”? But no one is on the same list. Some people are on the NRA gun nut list, some people are on the country home and garden gnome list, some are on the makeup and party…
Photography Aaaaannd this was today… Jon Hillenbrand, December 5, 2008October 17, 2019 Here’s what I did today. Got up and went to work Went to a meeting Shot a headshot for a doc Went to a Christmas lunch Went home and spent a few hours watching CommunityChannel Productive. I love how when you are talking in a big group at a big…
Photography Today was Remarkable Jon Hillenbrand, December 5, 2008October 17, 2019 Last night I went to a mass at a beautiful church, St. Mary’s of the Angels. It’s the largest Catholic church in IL. The numbers use to describe this church (hundreds of feet high, an organ as wide and tall as some houses) would confound most people and draw doubt…
Photography Ujjayi Breath Jon Hillenbrand, November 21, 2008October 17, 2019 Part of the Jedi training that my sister is giving me, also known as yoga, involves something called the Ujjayi Breath. It’s a way of narrowing your throat so that you inhibit exhalations. People do this normally when they purse their lips after they’ve gone on a run. Studies have…
Photography Hiding the nerd Jon Hillenbrand, November 11, 2008October 17, 2019 Wow, re-reading that last post from a slightly different point of view from my own makes it seem like vain fantasy and self-aggrandizing. I’m lame for publishing such rubbish but maybe it makes sense in the big picture for me to post that. Oh blog, don’t you know that I…
Photography Always Be Prepared Jon Hillenbrand, November 8, 2008October 17, 2019 We’re all put to the test… but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?-Charles Morse, The Edge I am a special forces operative. I enter the lobby of the Daley Plaza and I quickly survey the security looking for any holes. The…
Photography UNODIR Jon Hillenbrand, November 7, 2008October 17, 2019 Sometimes after a long 12 hour day when I haven’t had a chance to eat lunch or breakfast, and the valet at the restaurant I was just shooting photos at asked me impolitely to move my car because I was parked “illegally”, in his words, in his precious parking lot,…
Poetry LOVE Jon Hillenbrand, October 30, 2008December 30, 2015 I’m thinking back to pre-school, a distant out of focus memory of my hand fondling the red fire alarm. The ink of grade school turns milky blue for a moment as I make out a girl in a polka dotted skirt, a girl who hated me. High school is clearer…
Photography Winning and competition Jon Hillenbrand, October 28, 2008October 17, 2019 Every step we take is either closer to or further from the land of the living. The problem is, we never know which direction we are heading in until we get there. These words from Jarhead are a good way of indicating the importance of winning. As a kid, I…
Photography A Cage of My Own Making Jon Hillenbrand, October 25, 2008October 17, 2019 The first time I entered freefall, the moment I fell from the sky, I immediately wanted to get BACK into the plane. If I could have reached out Plastic Man-style and grabbed the edge of the plane’s door, I would have held on for dear life as the instructor attached…
Poetry The Doorway Jon Hillenbrand, October 21, 2008December 30, 2015 The door banged open dustily halting the men’s filthy conversation. She paused there in the opening, a sudden wind taking its cue to wrap around her silken form. Red swollen lips threw daggers at the men. Her word leveled with the finality of a commandment, a gale force whisper, the…
Photography Assassin's Lament Jon Hillenbrand, October 20, 2008October 17, 2019 Many of you who have been to my apartment or seen me at work around bugs know that I have a particular sensitivity toward all of the creatures that inhabit the world. This is perhaps best elicited in my so called, “Catch and Release Program,” of bug wildlife management. Here…