I folded the crane at a table inside the McDonald’s next to the Wrigley Building and Trump Tower, then carried it outside and set it on top of the garbage can.
I squatted behind that can for 10 minutes with my iPhone propped on the lid. The angle kept being wrong. I wanted the crane against the plaza with the building behind it, and getting there took a lot of small shuffles on my heels. Partway through, the smell coming out of the can reached my nose. I ignored it and kept shooting.
Then a woman walked up to throw something away.
She saw a man crouched behind a garbage can in downtown Chicago, photographing what looked like a folded-up fast food bag. Garbage smell in the air, and the guy squatting in it seems fine with that. She hesitated. Then she stepped up, dropped her garbage in, and walked off without saying anything.
The photo went to Flickr and got picked up by Explore, the top 500 photos posted that day, ranked as high as #237. It got some nice comments, including a thought-provoking one from my twin brother asking whether the bag is still a bag.
A more detailed story is on my blog post from 2017, Origami made from McDonalds bag.
