Award-winning photographer Bob Thall offers lecture on his melancholic road scenes – The Columbia Chronicle

Bob Thall, visitor speaker on the Museum of Contemporary Photography, exhibits pictures from a visit to Dallas and the way it in comparison with Chicago on Thursday, March 12, 2026.

In a dimly lit room at Columbia’s Museum of Contemporary Photography, dozens of individuals gathered round a projector display as award-winning photographer Bob Thall offered his work with road scenes via a collection of slides. 

Thall, who is thought for many years of photographing Chicago’s city panorama, additionally served on college at Columbia from 1976 to 2017 and chaired the now-renamed images division from 1999 to 2011.

He returned to campus on Thursday, March 12 to debate his long-term dedication to large-format black and white images, in addition to his most up-to-date mission documenting cities throughout the United States titled “Some American Cities.”

Thall began taking pictures across the metropolis of Chicago in 1971 with the purpose of critiquing architectural work. Later on in his profession, Thall grew to become extra within the tales of people that lived behind the facades of the buildings that he was photographing.

Thall has had a number of profitable tasks all through his profession, although his road scene work led him to obtain quite a few awards, together with a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, Graham Foundation Grant and Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council. 

One of the individuals in attendance, junior images main Avery Rusel, stated that Thall’s work was “explorative.”

“You can see it in some of the work, too, but he talks about how he is exploring the lack of downtown areas, and the lack of city life and how it used to be,” he stated. 

Geri Rudich, one particular person in attendance, stated that Thall’s metropolis scene work was “evolution” to her. 

“I have known Bob since grammar school,” Rudich stated. “I learned a lot about Bob, his devotion to city life, and why he cares about cities, how they’ve evolved, and how sterile, unfortunately, they have been called.” 

Thall’s lecture showcased a wide range of his early work reminiscent of his “Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana” mission, a long run project that Thall spent over a decade photographing industrial and working-class residential city panorama. He additionally spoke about his most up-to-date mission titled “Some American Cities,” which includes a strict template of solely black and white imagery with giant open metropolis scenes.  

Thall advised the Chronicle that suburban and concrete life is “important to human life,” and that his road scene work highlights the “lament” of those existence.

Something from Thall’s lecture that caught out to Zero Kellythompson, a graduate scholar learning images, was the impact of lighting all through completely different cities.

But Kellythompson stated that in Chicago, all of the lighting feels the identical. 

“I have lived in other places and I have felt that way too,” they stated. “You can’t actually come back to it, unlike in Chicago, where it happens everyday, all the time.”

Thall concluded his lecture by reiterating a core sentiment round his work — an expression of sorrow and criticism.

Jennifer Sauzer, head of entry companies and evaluation at Columbia’s library, stated that Thall’s lecture made her achieve a deeper appreciation for his work and the thought behind the pictures.

“My background is not in photography so it’s really a treat to hear somebody talk so passionately about their work,” Sauzer stated, “and also touch on the people that came before them, his peers, his inspiration and his love of the city,”  

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