Jamie Kelter Davis
  • Overview
  • People
  • Scenes + Moments
  • Projects
    • Quiet Days of Covid
    • Ellana
    • Grandma Kelter
    • Granor Farm
    • Andersonville
    • Reopen Illinois Rally
  • Portraits
  • About
  • Contact
Jamie Kelter Davis
Jamie Kelter Davis
  • Overview
  • People
  • Scenes + Moments
  • Projects
    • Quiet Days of Covid
    • Ellana
    • Grandma Kelter
    • Granor Farm
    • Andersonville
    • Reopen Illinois Rally
  • Portraits
  • About
  • Contact

PREV.

Projects

NEXT.

Ellana

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

@jaymiey
Devastating. July 5, 2022. Highland Park, IL Seve Devastating. July 5, 2022. Highland Park, IL

Several vigils at churches and at the towns square came together yesterday, just blocks away from the mass shooting that took place on the 4th of July, directed at a crowd gathered watching a parade.

Today, at a press conference, we learned that the gunman traveled to Madison, WI, after he killed 7 people and injured dozens more, in Highland Park. I was just outside of Madison when I heard, and rushed back to help cover, driving through that very same area. Maybe we even passed him. He saw another 4th of July event happening in town, and contemplated another attack. He changed his mind. 

Sometimes when you are taking photos of a tragic situation it can be hard to real time process, but suddenly today, as I squatted on the ground listening to the State’s attorney speak this information, I started shaking … it’s all so close. Devastating is the only word I can think of. 

Photo for @nytimes
Highland Park, IL. July 4, 2022 The aftermath of Highland Park, IL. July 4, 2022

The aftermath of a mass shooting during a 4th of July parade through the quaint downtown area of the Chicago suburb, Highland Park. For hours residents stayed inside while swat teams, police and FBI were on a manhunt to find the man that opened fire on the crowd, killing 6 people and injuring dozens more. Chairs, bikes, strollers strewed all over the streets where people had been enjoying the summer holiday before running for their lives. As the sun went down and the gunman was detained, people quietly made their way out, some looking in disbelief at their own chairs and strollers - still sitting on the other side of yellow tape … 

Photos for @nytimes
Campbell. Sauk City, WI June 2, 2022 Campbell. Sauk City, WI
June 2, 2022
IL primary election coverage. June 2022 for @nyti IL primary election coverage. 
June 2022 for @nytimes 

I ran (sometimes literally) around Chicago and a few suburbs to document the primaries on Tuesday, hoping to show the diversity of Chicago and the sometimes quirky polling place locations. Chicago had only a 20% turn out.  The last slide was from Kina Collins’ watch party.  Kina narrowly lost her race against Danny Davis, who is also a Democrat that has occupied the congressional seat since 1997, when she was 5 years old. Collins, a fierce community organizer and gun violence activists exclaimed in her speech, “For the men in the room …. It’s time to step aside and let the women lead!”

Thank you @jeremiahbogert for the fun assignment ✨
IL GOP Primary Campaigns. 6.22 New work for @nytim IL GOP Primary Campaigns. 6.22
New work for @nytimes stories written by Reid Epstein & Catie Edmondson. 

To say I’ve learned a lot in the last month would be an understatement, a subject that was especially eyeopening was GOP politics playing out in Central and Southern Illinois. When you travel 40 miles outside of Cook County (where the city is located), you experience a different version of Illinois. The name is the same but the identity is quite different. Outside of “Chicagoland” the rest of IL tends to be a lot more conservative. I’ve lived more than half my life in Chicago, but as a kid I spent time on the edge of this divide, a far southern suburb of Chicago, and 2 years of college in Central IL. I know and love people from both regions, and have seen the frustration and misconceptions from both sides - the city vs. the rest of Illinois. It wasn’t until recently, when I joined reporters covering contentious GOP races, battled mainly downstate, did I fully comprehend how the divide has impacted politics so strongly. 

Before winning the gubernatorial GOP nomination, Trump endorsed Darren Bailey, said in an interview with Epstein, “The rest of the 90 percent of the land mass is not real happy about how 10 percent of the land mass is directing things,” Mr. Bailey said in an interview aboard his campaign bus outside a bar in Green Valley, a village of 700 people south of Peoria. “A large amount of people outside of that 10 percent don’t have a voice, and that’s a problem.” 

A race between 2 GOP incumbents fighting for the 15th District House seat in Central IL, ended up going to Trump endorsed, Mary Miller. Catie Edmondson quoted her from a rally, “The global elites are determined to destroy our way of life, including the family farm. We will not let them destroy us. We are Americans. This is our beautiful country, and we will never surrender to the Marxists in Washington.” 

It’s clear from these victories that the Trump influence can’t be ignored, though the future is uncertain for him, influence might long live on and thrive through determined candidates that, like their constituents, feel disenfranchised. 

Thank you @jeremiahbogert and @lancebooth
Chicago, IL June 24, 2022 Photos taken for @nytime Chicago, IL June 24, 2022
Photos taken for @nytimes 

Thousands of people flooded the streets of Chicago to protest the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 50 year old constitutional right to abortions.

Chicago Based Photographer    312.217.5454

jamie@jamiekelterdavis.com

©2021 | All photographs by Jamie Kelter Davis