Michigan Avenue - June 6th, 2015

The shot itself was easy to line up but now a new challenge presented itself. Being in everybody's way as they went about their day in one of our nation's busiest cities.

This also presented an opportunity. We snapped so many photos of so many different people that we were able to handpick who we wanted to be in the shot and where. Challenges always seem to have a silver lining.

Continuing with the laid back theme of the shoot we were also fortunate enough to have perfect lighting. This is part luck and part strategy however. One of the most important (and often overlooked) aspects of what we do is getting the timing right between the old photograph and the new. It can be difficult to ascertain the time our source photograph was taken so we typically have to estimate. Sometimes we get lucky however -in images such as our State Street piece, there is a clock in the source photo! Talk about perfect timing, literally.

It was not too sunny yet not too cloudy which allowed us to get the exact shot we needed with little issue.

Have a look at the accompanying photograph, going behind the scenes as Jacob is truly standing in his element, doing what he does best. Getting this shot may have been relatively easy, but the artwork is a whole other story. That is where the creativity really lives.

Every photograph we recreate has significant landmarks we like to pay close attention to. The lions are one example, another is The Wrigley Building which has been part of the Chicago skyline since the early 1920's.

The first office building built north of the Chicago River, The Wrigley Building location was chosen by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. to be the headquarters of his company.

Look closely at the differences between the two photos. 90 years apart, a lot can happen. A great example of true American industrialism becomes apparent when you look at the other buildings that had been built up behind The Wrigley Building over the past 100 years.