What a happy ending to 2014! Stark Magazine published my image, Make No Little Plans, on the back cover in their latest issue, Issue.33. I’m particularly excited because this is the first image for a new series I’ll be focusing on in 2015 titled The White City.
Coming up with a title for this publication is what brought me to the idea of this series, so I’m very grateful for the nudge. Titling my work is always a challenge and not something I’m generally very good at. However, the mood of this image along with the Ferris Wheel reminded of the novel The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. If you’ve read the book you likely get the connection. If not, the book centers around the 1893 World’s Fair, which took place in Chicago, its architects, their grand plans, which included the world’s first Ferris Wheel, and the darkness of a serial killer using the fair to his advantage. Hence the darker mood of the images.
It’s been nearly a decade since I first read this book, I’m in the process of rereading it with hopes and plans to create architectural images with this darker mood, clearly using the book for inspiration. The series will be a combination of new images, like the one below, and older images that I’ve either never shared or some I’ve reedited to fit the mood and vision for this particular series. For now, I have a set on Flickr with a few images, soon I’ll include a portfolio on my website. But if you’d like to see where I’m at so far with the series be sure to follow it here.
The title of this particular image comes from a quote by Daniel Burnham, who was the lead architect for the World’s Fair:

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.

If you’re not familiar with Stark Magazine, it’s a great community of photographers sharing their unique work and supported by this online site and print magazine. All proceeds from the purchase of the magazine go to Doctors Without Borders. If you’d like to purchase a copy or simply browse through all the compelling work in Issue.33, click here.