Images: Favorites from a Daily Herald career
Not even a Buick through the front window could keep Laura Willer of Elgin from finishing her hair appointment at an Elgin salon. "I thought someone threw something through the window," Willer said of the accident, which occurred just feet behind her at the People's Choice salon on Larkin Avenue. One patron was taken to the hospital with minor injuries from the crash, but the salon remained open for customers.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Baylee Modaff, 7 of Naperville takes a break from setting up pig pens to rest on two of her family's Yorkshire pigs at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles. The Modaff family owns a farm south of Oswego, and spends their summers raising pigs and taking them to several local county fairs including Kane County and DuPage County Fairs. Baylee and her brothers show several different breeds during the fairs. Her mother Tracy said she and her husband grew up showing livestock at county fairs so they enjoy giving the same experience to their kids. "We say they're like country kids living in the city," Tracy said.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Tattoo parlor owner Skeet of Carpentersville grew up in the village and spent a lot of his childhood playing on or near these tracks over the Fox River just north of Main Street.
Christopher Hankins/chankins@dailyherald.com
When she can convince a friend to go out to lunch, one of May Chesak's favorite joints was McDonald's where she always ordered a hamburger, fries and orange drink. Leanne Atwood, who worked with May at Heathstone Manor in Woodstock, shared a laugh over some of their favorite food. Chesak is the namesake of Chesak Elementary School in Huntley, and passed away in 2007, at the age of 103.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Moments after meeting the woman who received her husband's kidney in a transplant 3 years prior, Anne Gulotta wanted to feel connected again to her husband Jay in 2005. Kidney recipient Julie Bieneman obliges when Anne asks, "Where's Jay?"
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Third-grader Michael Masters uses some body language as he tries his best to spell the word October during a spelling bee at St. John's Lutheran School in Algonquin. His classmate Abigail Smolinski did spell the word correctly, but forgot to capitalize the first letter so they both moved on to the next round.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
A snowboarder exhales into the frigid air as he hikes to the top of the hill during the recent Polar Vortex of 2014 at Randall Oaks Park in West Dundee. The popular sledding hill was packed with sledders, snowboarders and parents with cameras as the recent snowfall created a perfect chance to get out and play.
Christopher Hankins/chankins@dailyherald.com
Heriberto Rodriguez of Carpentersville celebrated his 100th birthday in 2011, surrounded by relatives from all over the country. His plans for the rest of his life? "Whatever I want," Rodriguez said.
Christopher Hankins/chankins@dailyherald.com
Addison firefighter Joel "Jay" Arnier reunites with 20-month-old Kaitlyn Winoker and her mom, Trisha Schuler Friday at the McHenry County Government Center in Woodstock after Arnier received special recognition for rescuing Kaitlyn from the Fox River on May 11, 2011.
Christopher Hankins/chankins@dailyherald.com
Chuck Swanson shares a laugh with family friend Randy Pauli over a lunch at the family farmhouse in Gilberts. I had the privilege of photographing members of the Swanson family on several occasions. Of all the farmers I came across in my years as a photojournalist, Chuck was one of the best. When he passed in 2008, I was touched to hear from his wife Beulah after a picture that I shot of him on his tractor was used on the cover of his memorial program.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
With her husband Gary away at sports camp and unable to help, Tracy Heilers can't bring herself to stick a needle full of fertility drugs into her thigh. This picture and the other black and white images that follow were part of a two-day series on the Heilers and their struggle with infertility.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
"You're gonna be a daddy!" Tracy Heilers' announcement at husband Gary's high school track banquet sent Gary's emotions through the roof.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Just a few hours after Tracy Heilers told husband Gary they were going to have a baby, she's still clutching the proof in her hands.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
At Tracy Heilers' three-month checkup at Homefirst, the sounds of their baby's heartbeat bring on smiles they hadn't seen in years.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Just a day before Tracy Heilers went into labor, she gets an adjustment from chiropractor Nate McGowen at a clinic in Elgin. Tracy has relied on the treatments and even acupuncture at the clinic to relieve her aches and pains over the years.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Finally, after trying for over four years, the Heilers have a child, safe and sound. Gary and Tracy relax in their bed with their newborn son, Ian Thomas.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Yesenia and Ricardo Martinez have had enough fun riding their horse around the small ranch they call home. Now it's time to play in the one-room school where they learn the basics during the school year. Lupe Schoffstall of Palatine grew up on this rural ranch in Zacatecas. Although she's now a bilingual teacher, she didn't know what a book was as a child when she moved to the U.S. This image and those that follow were part of the Exodus from Mexico project in 2003 which examined the reasons so many Mexicans now call the suburbs home.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
18-year-old Nadia Tovar harvests asparagus in a field in Guanajuato for roughly one-sixth of what workers would earn in the U.S. Nadia quit school several years ago to earn more money for her family.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Senior border patrol agent Jorge L. Gonzalez scans the southern horizon of the Sonoran Desert in search of illegal immigrants who were spotted nearby. Gonzalez and other agents admit they are outmatched trying to spot every illegal immigrant in such a wide expanse of the Mexico/US border.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
A young Mexican boy has tears wiped from his eyes by his mother as a U.S. border agent books them after finding them trying to illegally cross the border into Arizona.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
A Mexican woman cradles her listless daughter in her arms as a U.S. Border Patrol agent processes them for transport back to Mexico. The two were found stuffed in the small, metal toolbox compartment of a pickup truck along with 19 other illegals just a few miles north of the Arizona - Mexico border. It was 102 degrees that day.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
Antonio and Yesenia Martinez are framed by an old building on their ranch that was likely home to Palatine teacher Lupe Schoffstall during her early years in Zacatecas.
CHRISTOPHER HANKINS/chankins@dailyherald.com
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