Chicago, USA – 2019

This is a big photograph of a big street in a big city. La Salle in Chicago, looking
towards the Chicago Board of Trade building, is an iconic American urban view.
Sam Mendes used it in the mobster classic – The Road to Perdition – and it has
been glorified in many Batman iterations.
Chicago is urban beauty at its best and the presence of such a big building at
the end of a street offers opportunities that Manhattan simply does not give.
The eye is grabbed and then led deep into the vortex of Gotham.
I wanted a story that was cinematic and visceral and my founding principal was
that we had to shoot at night. We could then wet the road to enhance
reflections and deliver mood and use smoke machines to give the scene a
gangster throwback feel. I spent a few hours in daylight on several intersections

of La Salle pondering my lens selection and the right position. This aspect of
the job was under my control and I had to get it right.
There was a riddle in that the Chicago Police Department was wonderful, but
understandably would only close down the street after midnight, by which time
the Board of Trade has switched off the flood lights on its iconic building. This
was a problem and we had to move one of these variables in our favour. With
some charm and a few dollars, the Board of Trade agreed to help us and the
lights went back on until 4am.
I deliberately played with verticals in the composition because I felt that the
retro Northern Trust sign was a useful vertical twin to the Board of Trade. There
was a consistent play on height – so why not supplement this with a tall
gangster and then most implausibly a tall wolf?
Great photographs can be looked at for a long time. I will leave others to decide
if this is a great image, but I do know that it can be looked at for a very long
time.

Digital Pigment Print on Archival
315gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta Paper
Frame included
Hand signed and numbered on the front by the artist
Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Available Sizes (Framed Size)
Large: 71” x 94” (180 cm x 239 cm)
Standard: 52″ x 67″ (132 cm x 170 cm)

Available Editions
Large: Edition of 12
Standard: Edition of 12