I was walking back to my car after having shot Calder’s Flamingo and walked by this building, One South Dearborn.  Intrigued by the oh-so-symmetrical facade, I set up my tripod and took some shots of it.  There is a security desk just below the right ‘1’ and seconds after I put my tripod on the ground, one of the security guards got up and started walking towards me purposefully.

I’ve found that when being approached by police or security guards, it’s best to keep shooting until they reach you.  Not only do you get a few extra photos that way, but it makes it seem like you don’t believe you’re doing anything wrong.  And, for the record, I was not doing anything wrong here.  “No photos,” the security guard told me. “Not unless you’re on the sidewalk.”  In one of those arcane, illogical bits of, well, logic, the sidewalk was public property, thus I could shoot there.  The bricks between the sidewalk and the street and the sidewalk and the building were the building’s property, so I couldn’t shoot there.

I retreated entirely to the sidewalk and, as I set up my tripod, saw that the security guard was not budging.  He was going to make sure I didn’t put a single foot onto the building’s property.  After another minute had passed, the security guard told me he thought I had gotten enough photos and bid me a good night in a tone of voice that suggested I had to leave.  So if you have any plans to shoot the One South Dearborn facade, I encourage you, make sure one of your first three photos is good, the rest are going to be taken under duress.