All too often, I spend what seems like hundreds of hours looking at photos that never make it into the magazine for one reason or another. I fall in love with an image only to find it on the cutting-room floor when it comes to print time, and my heart breaks over and over again. Welcome to Snap, therapy for my heart and a way to share the ones that got away—as well a bunch of other great photo-related stuff.

The February 2008 issue of the magazine includes a feature showcasing 13 great photos I culled from Flickr. These images are amazing, and each photographer—mostly just people who have fun snapping photos, not pros—provided a unique and intimate look at our city. However, for each of those 13, there were 100 more shots that I wanted to include in the feature.

Our limited space couldn’t do justice to the photo you see below, taken by Patrick Spence (Flickr alias: Giant Ginkgo). Patrick took this shot of the Illinois Center from his office window in an attempt to “capture the enormous scale of Chicago’s office buildings, while at the same time giving a sense of how small we are when compared to it.” That’s all fine and dandy, but I love it for its voyeurism. Check out the largest version—does anyone else see Spider-Man?


Cubicles by Patrick Spence