Gill’s photography is recognized nationally and globally

Jan 27, 2015

Tom Gill, North Central College instructional media coordinator, has reached new levels of notoriety as a photographer with many of his photos being recognized and published in major outlets and publications.

Gill’s featured photography has mainly covered the icy winters surrounding the Chicago and Michigan areas. His latest images include Grand Haven and St. Joseph lighthouses in Michigan, which led to the attention of The Huffington Post and an offer to join the publication as a regular photo blogger. To date, Gill has written five posts with his photos to the blog: huffingtonpost.com/tom-gill. He plans to continue adding posts every week.

His latest blog post, titled “Frozen Sentinels of Lake Michigan,” discusses his recent trip up the shoreline of Lake Michigan to photograph the frozen lighthouses of southwest Michigan. Gill explains the weather variables needed to create the ice formations on the lighthouses and piers, information about each location and more.

These photos and more also are featured on V.Point, an opinion and news site in the United Kingdom.

His photos have received extensive exposure at Weather.com. The site added a new gallery that features some 50 of Gill’s lighthouse images. Click here to view the gallery (suggest using Explorer, not Firefox, as your browser). Also, his feature of the St. Joseph Lighthouse became a lead photo (No. 1) in “Weather.com’s Top 50 Science and Environment Photos of 2014” and in “Weather.com’s Top 100 photos of 2014” (No. 36).

Gill’s hometown newspaper, “The Tinley Junction,” began a new weekly feature titled “The World Through My Lens,” which will showcase one of his photographs every week, along with a short description.  

On Jan. 14, Gill (right) presented a 90-minute photography tour, titled “One Tank Trips and Photo Tips,” at the Tinley Park Public Library where he discussed the history and facts of nearby scenic locations as well as the photographic techniques and equipment he used to capture the photos. The tour involved more than 150 photos of 18 different locations, including Starved Rock State Park, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Mississippi Palisades State Park, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Hennepin Canal.

In addition, Facebook users can follow Gill’s photography page, facebook.com/tomgillphotographer, to keep up with his latest photographic journeys. Click here to view his personal blog.  

Gill has worked at North Central since 1997. He earned his B.F.A. from the University of Illinois.