The most challenging portion of my trip to Japan was the time in Tōhoku's recovering disaster areas, but I spent the majority of my visit in urban Japan. The first half of my trip was structured around Kobe, where I was exhibiting my Isolated Building Studies, and Tokyo served as the base for the second half of the excursion.

I am excited to announce that the Japanese photography book producer Utakatado has just published Isolated Building Studies, the first book dedicated to my Isolated Building Studies project. The 56-page softcover book is 7.5" x 11.5" and features 36 of my favorite photographs from the series.

Last week I traveled with Japanese advertising director and photographer Yohei Morita through Tōhoku, the Japanese region critically affected by the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster.

Over the last several days, the Chicago region experienced as much as 18 inches of snow and temperatures as low as -15 Fahrenheit. I love how snow transforms the city and how low temperatures affect the visibility of water vapor, so I headed out to get a sense of the South Side and Northwestern Indiana.

2013 was yet another year of big changes: I finished my fieldwork for my dissertation; I started regularly spending time in both Chicago and Cambridge, Massachusetts; and I started a major shift in the balance of my photographic and video work.

Last week I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to co-present a paper at an academic conference and spend a little time exploring in the region. I only had parts of three days away from the conference, but thanks to some planning, I was able to accomplish more than I anticipated.

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• NEW BOOK: Isolated Building Studies, a 56-page softcover book detailing David's series was just printed by the Japanese photography book publisher Utakatado. Find out more or place an order on the blog.
• David's Isolated Building Studies book was recently featured by Dwell, Chicago magazine and Gizmodo.
• David will be presenting at Chicago Filmmakers' "Interactive Storytelling: Models for Film and Media Makers" event on March 8 and at the Chicago Ethnography Conference on March 15.
• David authored an article and photo essay for The Society Pages about Detroit's debt, streetlight problems, and community health.
• Isolated Buildings, David's exhibition at Gallery TANTO TEMPO in Kobe, Japan opens on January 11, 2014. His gallery talk will follow on January 18.
• David recently participated in two Chicago exhibitions, Not Just Another Pretty Face at the Hyde Park Art Center and En Route: Visualizing Isolation at North Park University.
• David organized two panels for the National Preservation Conference in Indianapolis and will be presenting with Danielle Wallace at the American Society of Criminology's annual meeting in Atlanta.
• A selection from David's Isolated Building Studies is included in the DePaul Art Museum's Histories/Photographies exhibition, opening October 11.
• Photographs from David's Plan for Transformation series are featured in the new interactive documentary from The New York Times and the National Film Board of Canada, "A Short History of the Highrise."
• The Huffington Post Arts & Culture section featured a selection of David's photographs of Detroit at night.
• "The Area," a documentary short based on David's work in a Chicago community being displaced by a rail yard expansion is now online. Read more about it through Chicago Public Radio or Chicago magazine.
• David has started shooting environmental footage for the Kartemquin Films project Almost There. Update: See examples on the blog.
• David will be showing photographs of The Bloomingdale in a new group exhibition, Reframing Ruin: A Prelude to the Bloomingdale Trail.
• The Atlantic Cities featured three Midwestern sites from David's collaboration with historian Michael Carriere about community engagement. Salon previously featured the Milwaukee portion of the work.
• David's Isolated Building Studies exhibition will open in the Belfast Photo Festival on August 4 and remain public until summer 2014.