Tom Arndt, a 48-year-old Minneapolis native who took the photographs on these and other pages, is starting his fifth year on a project photographing Chicago, which he hopes to turn into a book. “I’m trying to make a visual document that describes my impressions of what it’s like to live in the urban context, and how it’s changing,” says Arndt, who will have a book coming out in about a year called “Men in America” (text by Chicago writer Larry Heinemann), based on a show at the Art Institute.
“Chicago is the most interesting city to me now. In Washington, there’s life on the mall and there’re parties, and that’s it. I’ve photographed a lot in New York, which is more like an international city. Chicago is much more real. I’m on State Street a lot. I like the busyness. I walk up north to Water Tower Place to photograph upper-class people; on State Street I photograph the real people. I also like places like Pilsen. I’ll walk up Milwaukee Avenue, and I’ll ride the “L” out to somewhere. I go to places where I don’t even know what their names are.
“What I try to do is visually interpret culture so that it makes sense to people. They can feel something from looking at what I do. I’m real direct about what I’m doing. If someone’s uncomfortable with my taking their picture, then I don’t do it. I’m real soft about it, and I get most of what I want. I try not to get into situations that are confrontational. I also do my best not to poke fun at people. It’s not respectful.
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“I like all aspects of the different seasons. I like winter when it’s just getting dark and it’s wet. In the summer, I take lots of portraits of little kids. I use all the public events here, like the Air and Water Show. The rest of the time I just walk around. Sometimes I’ll walk four or five hours a day, and all I’ve shot is four or five frames. You know, it’s not just happening. But sometimes that’s when it pays off the most, because I’ll find some situation or someone I’ll really respond to.
“I sell my work to art museums, corporate collectors and private collectors,” says Arndt, a Hyde Park resident who studied at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. “I don’t make much of a living at it, but I make enough. It’s an interesting life. I mean, I’m out of sync. I have kind of a gypsy attitude about life: Why not make it an adventure?
“This is not an easy job. I have to make my own routine and deadlines. There’s not anybody to prod me. But I love doing this. I could photograph 24 hours a day. There’s something that always interests me. I just pray that when I go to heaven, I’ll be the photographer there.”