40u40: We should have gone outside

Erika Sidor At the Mercantile Center in Worcester are 40 Under Forty winners (from left) Francisco Torres, Keith Reardon, Greta Bajrami Campoverde and Jody Staruk.

Write a Comment

By Brad Kane

This is the ninth in a series of 11 stories describing the photos behind this year's 40 Under Forty awards, where rather than shooting all the images in one location, WBJ took the winners to 11 properties around Worcester, showcasing the new developments of a city on the rise. Check out the parts: Burns Bridge, public murals, deadhorse hill, The Edge at Union Station, Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center, The Grid District, Wormtown Brewery, Crompton Collective.

The first photo shoot of this year’s 40 Under Forty awards was the one that got away.

Team Mercantile Center (Francisco Torres, Keith Reardon, Greta Bajrami Campoverde and Jody Staruk) had done their homework – meeting each other beforehand and developing a natural camaraderie – resulting in a very nice photo of good-looking people in an interesting background. What nagged me afterward was we could have used those positives to create an even brighter photo.

The main reason for choosing to shoot the photos at the Mercantile Center while it was under construction was to translate the notion that the new Worcester is still under development. Along with the shoots at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center and Creative Hub Worcester, these photos would show a city fulfilling its potential.

The development firms making the upgrades to the Mercantile Center – Franklin Realty Advisors of Boston and Washington Capital Management of Seattle – were more than willing to show off the new property, especially the new glass staircase replacing an old escalator in the building’s lobby, which debuted in late August. Furthermore, Staruk is a senior project manager at Consigli Construction – the contractor on the Mercantile project – enabling us to get all the access we needed.

The shots photographer Erika Sidor took checked off all the boxes: the winners looking comfortable and relaxed, construction equipment in the background, the unique lighting fixtures to show the potential of the property. As we were shooting the photos, I was very pleased with the results.

Of course, five minutes after the shoot ended, as I was walking to my car, I realized Mercantile was doing plenty of work outside, too. With construction equipment and materials abound on a bright sunny day against these larger than life picture murals of the developer’s vision for the property, all I could think about was the photos we could have gotten.

Yet, the grass is always greener. Regardless of what might have happened, what actually happened means the potential of the outside photo will never match the reality of the photos on the glass staircase.

- Brad Kane, editor