Drake Daraitis
— photographer.
I make photographs of quiet things: light at the edge of a window, the geometry of a half-empty room, a face that doesn't know it's being seen. Based in Lake Zurich, IL 60047. Available for editorial, commercial, and personal commissions.
Drake Daraitis is a photographer whose work moves between documentary still life and environmental portraiture, with a focus on community, housing, and the people who hold a neighborhood together. Recent assignment work has been on behalf of The Lighthouse Housing Alliance in Lake Zurich, IL.
The through-line is a stubborn attention to ordinary light. No retouching tricks, no staged spectacle — just patient looking, and the willingness to wait for a frame that doesn't lie about what it saw.
Currently shooting a long-term project on housing and community in the Chicago suburbs — working primarily with The Lighthouse Housing Alliance and similar organizations across Lake and Cook counties.
Natural light whenever the light allows it. A small kit carried everywhere. Negatives backed up the same day, files the same hour. Prints on cotton rag, matted by hand.
Available for editorial assignments, nonprofit and community work, and select commercial commissions. Day rate on request; prints ship within five business days of order.