Your hydration choices are Gatorade or beer.

For photographing a portrait of a Walnut wood bicycle and its builder, I considered possible locations to shoot: the park, riding in the street or in the wood shop were all reasonable, but bored me to tears. So instead I indulged my affection for shooting at gas stations. I told Seth Deysach to meet me at the Ameristar gas station on Diversey and Pulaski, a shining beacon among dirty northwest side taco shops and funeral homes. I was honestly surprised he agreed.


Seth Deysach of Lagomorph Design

It was hot as Hell that day so I negotiated to use the gas station by buying from its owner, bags of ice and enough Gatorade to hydrate a whale. In exchange he gave me rein over his station as long as we didn't get hit by traffic.

It was late summer so of course I wanted to soak in all the vitamin D I could before winter, so I slathered up with SPF 50 and shot in the bright, hot sunlight. When I shoot I'm high on adrenaline and can be unfazed by the harshest elements, though I could see my subject was melting, so I moved us under the giant canopy shading the pumps. We could now all relax and shoot while dodging the cars of paying customers.

And if you are paying attention; No that's not Gatorade in his hand. The ice was for the High Life I got for Seth at the next door liquor store. Boy can drink beer on a hot day!


Fall 2011 cover of CS Interiors