Welcome to Showcase Chicago, brought to you by Production Paradise. This issue features some of the leading photographers, directors, stylists and photographers' agents based in Chicago.

More creative professionals and facilities for photographic and film production are available in our Chicago Photo and Film directories.

Be sure to catch our recommended events:

• The Chicago International Film Festival celebrates its 59th edition staying true to its original mission: seeking out the best in international cinema, the festival has opened windows to a world of film previously or otherwise unavailable in Chicago. From 11th to 22nd October in different venues around Chicago.
• LOVE: Still Not the Lesser brings together 12 international artists to share the ways they encounter and understand love. Themes of visibility and adoration recur as concepts embraced by many of the LOVE photographers, as they use portraiture and self-portraiture to affirm many different types of bodies. Until 22nd December at Museum of Contemporary Photography.
• Filter Photo presents I Don't Want to Fall In Love Again, a solo exhibition of work by Eli Craven. This exhibition presents 15 recent works that have been transformed through sculptural, digital, and darkroom manipulation. Through his work, Craven uses both found and original imagery to investigate the image's relationship to the body, sexuality, desire, and death.

Our cover image was shot by Zoe Rain.