Preston Thomas

@preston.camera

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Husband, Dad. Artist - Musician, Photographer. Left-handed coffee snob. I curse a lot. Film | Digital | Bourbon "A beautiful print is a thing in itself, not just a halfway house on the way to the page.” – Irving Penn site: https://preston.camera

The title of this piece is titled "American Dream Negro." Acrylic paint and oil pastel on linen, 36" x 36". This work is part of an ongoing project which includes photography, music, text, and a few works on canvas. It is an homage to the arrival of my ancestors through the hellish, misunderstood and often mocked experience of the Middle Passage. I am reminded of the complete dumbassery of Ben Carson, who referred to these kidnapped and enslaved humans as "immigrants who came here with a dream."
A black and white photograph of an elderly gentleman in a suit with a walking cane, preparing to cross the street.
A color photograph of broken asphalt bisecting the yellow lines of a parking lot after the rain.
A black and white film photograph. A person standing on the rocky edge of the lake. In the foreground the surrounding concrete is worn and broken. In the background is the lake itself.
A color photograph of a young girl riding a bicycle that's a bit too small for her. She is surrounded by beautiful and dilapidated architecture from a bygone era. There is a bright red Russian made vehicle on her left. This photograph was made in Havana Cuba. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A color photograph of my daughter at the pride parade in Chicago, a few years back. She was moving toward the front to catch up with a couple of her friends when I shouted out her name. She turned around and gave me that smile.
A color film photograph. In the foreground, painted across the blocks of a dilapidated breakwall along South Lake Michigan are the words "THEY HATE ART." In the background is teal blue water and sky. In a world where tech companies are constantly trying to shove artificial intelligence down our throats, these three words have never been more true.
A color film photograph. In the foreground is a rusted dock ladder alongside a dilapidated breakwall. Beyond that is the teal blue water of lake Michigan, just below a layer of clouds and haze. At the very top is the deep blue sky.
A color film photograph shot on a medium format camera. A study of the rooftop of an old laboratory with green reflective windows surrounded by a grey frame.
A color film photograph of two architectural schools of thought. In the foreground are the Twin Towers, completed in the 1950s. Their design is functional and pragmatic, built to house military personnel. In the center rear is The Powhatan. A beautiful luxury Art Deco building completed in the 1920s. The ornate facade features painted and glazed stone slabs beneath the windows.
A black and white film photograph of the city skyline from across the lake, with a tree branch and foliage in the foreground.
Black and white film photograph. Detail of an intersection shot from above with a medium format camera.
A black and white photograph of a figure walking through the deep shadows cast by a shuttered storefront and overhead train tracks, into the near blinding light.
A photograph of a Modern Ballet rehearsal. The image has been converted to black and white, while the falling rose petals have been left in their natural red. The work is titled "In My Home Town." Choreographed by Nina Rose Haspil. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A color photograph of a red cement block building in New York's Harlem neighborhood. There are multiple rows of windows with an assortment of window coverings, the occasional air conditioner, safety bars, and if you look closely, a few people. On the lower left, there is a small tree with tiny green buds. © Preston Lewis Thomas
Title: Sunrise Metropolis A color photograph which begins at the edge of the Union Pacific rail yard with the Chicago skyline in the distance. Sears Tower takes Center stage. The sun is just rising. The hazy sky and clouds are a mixture of blue and vanilla colors. Photographed by Preston Lewis Thomas.
The 2026 Bezos/Sánchez MET GALA will be the most “Let Them Eat Cake” event since pre-Guillotine Marie Antoinette! Struggling Middle Class? Go fuck yourselves. Working Poor? Go fuck yourselves. Children Dying from Starvation because We Trashed USAID? Go fuck yourselves. We've got Money and a Red Carpet and Celebrity Pedophiles! GO FUCK YOURSELVES!
You were born into this world, like ash that falls from a cheap cigarette into a puddle of stagnant water and piss… a gift from your father. The stench of you, made worse by a glorious amalgam of dime store perfumes and their desperate attempt to mask the presence of a dripping anus and unwashed armpits. Teeth of jaundice tint, coated in a vomitous patina of lies and stupidity and a pedophile’s lust for his own daughter. Requiem for the breath mint, “once more into the breach…” A death to be mourned by no one. -plt
This Photograph is titled "Terence, Yellow Bucket with Flowers." It is a color photograph of a teenager on the sidewalk playing drums on a yellow plastic bucket, while another bucket of the same color holds a bouquet of flowers. He looks directly at me while holding one of the drumsticks in the air. He is wearing a colorful Nickelodeon jacket With cartoon character illustrations. Photographed by Preston Lewis Thomas
A black and white photograph of a Black man playing a shiny flugelhorn in Hyde Park Chicago. He is wearing a black Cavanagh Edge fedora, black rimmed glasses and a black leather jacket. His cheeks are expanded in Dizzy Gillespie fashion, as he serenades passers-by with an up tempo Be-Bop Jazz tune. Photographed by Preston Lewis Thomas.
Nighttime in Havana, Cuba. A black and white photograph of people sitting along the Malecón - adjacent to a pitch black Atlantic Ocean. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A color photograph of a winter landscape facing the shoreline. The upper edge of the sky is a deep muted blue, below there are yellow-orange clouds. The sand and the boat docks on the right are still covered in ice and snow. The blue-green color of Lake Michigan can be seen in the distance. © Preston Lewis Thomas
Black and white photographs of an impromptu visit to the northern part of the Chicago shoreline. A hazy early evening, but still quite warm. I had the weird feeling that everyone there knew each other, and that I was the only "visitor". A welcome voyeur. In this shot, and older woman, possibly a grandmother, watches closely as a child slowly steps into the water. There are other people scattered about, on the sand and in the lake. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A black and white photograph of Humans as they emerge from an overpass and into a morning rain storm along a desolate street which sits between the decrepit concrete wall of a freight yard and an abandoned scrap metal plant. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A color photograph of a bright blue sky and a billowy, circular cloud formation. Below is the blue-green water of Lake Michigan. On the left is the Powhatan; an Art Deco styled apartment building that was completed in 1922. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A black and white photograph of an abandoned bicycle, still chained to a pole. It has been stripped of all of its useful parts and is slowly being consumed by the surrounding vegetation. © Preston Lewis Thomas
A black and white photograph of two boys at play in Chicago's "Crown Fountain." The fountain is a public work of art by Spanish Artist, Jaume Plensa. The pool, which casts a mirror reflection, is perfectly still, save for the water which cascades down the side of a tower made of glass bricks. © Preston Lewis Thomas