©Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
So the assigning editor in the morning tells me to check out a mass yoga demonstration at Union Station that would involve commuters. It sounded like it had some photographic potential in terms of “real people doing real things”, but when I got there, the overwhelming public relations nature of the event was plainly evident. The event was to promote a financial services website. Of course, newspapers often cover events that have an overwhelming public relations nature to them. Or as some cynics like to say “Slow news day, huh?” Sometimes the editorial response to a business promoting an event is “buy an ad”. In this case, I stayed awhile trying to focus on people who seemed to be real commuters caught up in the blue shirt frenzy. It didn’t seem like there were many interested to partake, and I felt the pressure of leaving for my next assignment. After deciding to shoot from the second floor, I finally found a moment that would be real enough – a man in a tie struggling to keep up. I come down to get his name only to find out he was a marketing executive helping to organize the event. ARGGH!