Chicago Baby

Last week I went on a whirlwind journey to Chicago to photograph Gordon Segal, CEO of Crate and Barrel, with Guari Nanda, inventor of the Clocky, for an Inc. Magazine cover try. When I say whirlwind I mean whirlwind. The idea was to fly in Thursday night, shoot in the morning and make it back to New York at a reasonable time. In theory it was a great plan. My original flight from LaGuardia was cancelled, with a thoughtful automated message informing me that it would be impossible to get to Chicago until mid-day Friday, just in time to miss the entire shoot. With some fast thinking and even faster phone dialing from Assistant Photo Editor extraordinaire, Kate Spear, I was booked on another flight from Kennedy airport on another airline. Once at the airport we met up with photo editor and partner in crime, Travis Ruse, whose flight had been delayed for four hours. When Travis finally attempted to board his plane he was informed that he had been bumped and was now on our flight, which was also delayed. Add in almost two hours on the ground and then a bonus wait upon arriving in Chicago due to no available arrival gates; it was a full day of travel. This was only the way there. The return flight was best summed up by the reoccurring phase I kept overhearing “Well it’s Friday night at O’Hare.” As for the rest of the trip I was still was able to have a delicious slice of famous Lou Malnati’s deep-dish pizza, courtesy of the also delicious Crate and Barrel cafeteria. What about the photographs you say? Well ever since I bought a book of Carlo Mollino’s Polaroids I have wanted to use bamboo as a backdrop. Thank you Carlo.