Of all the photos in my Riverside at One Hundred Fifty series, none has given me more pause or food for thought than this one.  For months after I shot this, I felt as though this was the weakest photo in the series.  I even apologized to some of the people in it for having it turn out so poorly.

Then I didn’t look at the image for six months.  When I came back to it after that time away, I felt a lot better about it.  As I began to go through the images to set a release order, I had the thought that this was actually one of the stronger images I’d shot.  Funny how this happens.

The concept of this photo stems from one of the more unusual things I’ve noticed in town.  At rush hour, as people get off the Metra from downtown they look absolutely miserable.  I honestly feel as though people look happier and more satisfied getting onto the train in the morning than they do in the evening.  I’ve never been able to understand this.  Work is over!  You’re home!  Why do you look like you’ve checked out of the earthly realm?

“You know why people look so miserable?” a friend of mine asked.  “Because they hate their families.  They hate going home to them.”  It seems slightly implausible to me, but it did fit.  Either way, I’m always amazed and surprised to see how downright despondent the majority of people look while getting off the train.

Just on the other side of the commuter parking lot is the Riverside Swim Club.  If you’ve ever seen the Riverside Swim Club during the day in the summer, you’ll know that it’s one of the happiest places on earth.  The exact opposite of the vibe of the people getting off the train.  So I wanted to highlight those two energies colliding.

This photo has two young girls in bathing suits biking home from the swim club after a glorious day of fun, gawking at the morose undead stumbling to their cars.

I instructed all the business folks to wear their least sexy business casual clothes and to bring a backpack with them.  Then we stuffed the backpacks filled with whatever (lightweight things) we could find; binders, clothes, plastic bags etc.  When we had everyone lit properly, I instructed the models to pose as half zombie/half business person.  “No one is happy!” I said.   One of the girls asked me why the people were so unhappy.  “I don’t know,” I told her.  “That’s part of the reason I’m shooting this!”

One final note about the amazing models I was working with: everyone in this photo stayed in these poses for minutes at a time.  Off balance and with feet mid-stride.  Everyone is miserable in their own unique way and I love that.