Condé Nast Traveler: Chicago

Early this spring, Condé Nast Traveler packed me off to Chicago for a week to photograph a story for the magazine. It had been a while since my last visit to the Windy City but it was just as fabulous as I had remembered it. The brief was my usual mix of people, places, food and cityscapes. Perusing the shot-list I noticed Nick Cave and I thought, “I didn’t realize the musician lived in Chicago”. About an hour later, a lightbulb fizzled on in my head - Nick Cave the artist (who I absolutely know and love) lives and works in Chicago! Let’s just say my trip to his studio will be one of the highlights of my life. And I just missed another hero, Theaster Gates, but I got a morning in his new space The Land School with all the fabulous artists-in-residence there. On the food front, photographing Rick Bayless at Frontera Grill was up there too - I feel like I grew up watching him on PBS.

Having briefly entertained becoming an architect when I was in college, it’s hard to emphasize too much how unique and amazing the city is. There’s an iconic building around every corner and down every street. It’s like walking through an architectural history book (Rome is the only other city I feel that about). I also happened upon the Obama Library in the final stages of construction while working in the South Side as they were racing to the Juneteenth opening.

Another big shout out to Pallavi Kumar and the crazy-hardworking team at CNT.