My urban series had just begun to take shape and
I was doing a show at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. Early December
2003, and the weather was still pleasant enough. With a few hours
to kill between final set up and the show's kick off reception,
I grabbed my camera and wandered downtown Chicago for a few hours.
Please understand, I don't know Chicago so I was just soaking
it all in.
One busy corner caught my attention. It was a cloudy
day so I leaned against a light pole to steady myself and started
clicking away. A month later I had prepared two scenes from that
corner, one featured on my home page. That fall I was doing a
show in Buffalo Grove, a Chicago suburb, when a young man walked
up and told me he had gone to school with Cal's daughter. I didn't
connect until he pointed to the picture with Cal's Liquors featured.
Long story short, he called her up, she told her
father and before the weekend was over I met quite a number of
the clan. One of Cal's nephews even purchased a print for their
50th anniversay, or so he said. I was somewhat uncertain about
telling Cal the image was part of a series called "Ephemeral/Edifice"
illustrating humanity's fleeting nature. In many cases, the edifice
in my images also disappears a relatively short time after I capture
them. Cal then told me there was family strife and he didn't know
how much longer they would have the store. To this day, I don't
know the fate of Cal's but the image has been quite popular.
What pleased me most about meeting Cal was him telling
me that he couldn't count the number of photographers and cinematographers
who had asked to set up on the roof to capture the El as it rattled
by. This was the first time someone had made his business the
focus of a scene. As I've toured this image around the country,
it never fails someone stops short, points and says "I used
to walk by Cal's every day on my way to work!" (Amusingly,
they seldom admit to going in, though the connected sandwich shop
is another matter.)
The master image for "Ephemeral/Edifice #2-
Chicago" knocked around with me for awhile. Finally, at a
show in Wausau, WI, not more than 30 minutes to close on the last
day, a jogger drew up short, strode into the booth and started
inspecting the picture closely. Stepped back a couple times to
look it over, then up closer to examine details. He looked at
me, his face still dripping with perspiration, "How late
does the show run?"
"About another 30 minutes," I said. You
could see the dilemma in in his eyes. "Man, I need to think
about this," and he stode out of the booth. Normally, you
can bet they won't be back under those circumstances. Ten minutes
later he strode back into the booth, grinned and gave a thumbs
up and handed me his credit card. The only issue was getting it
bubble-wrapped so it could be transported in his convertible,
with the threat of a storm coming on. That took all of another
10 minutes including a 6-block round trip to the trailer to retrieve
the bubble wrap.
On the way to to trailer and back, I just may have
spotted another Ephemeral/Edifice opportunity the next time I
get back to Wausau, too. gnf
