37, creator of Instagram account @whatwasbreakfast
How did you come up with the idea for What Was Breakfast?
One of my coworkers and I were joking around one day, and he asked me how I wanted my breakfast sandwich. At Cherry Circle Room, the breakfast sandwich is called the Van Doozer. So we did this silly project called “How I Dooz It,” and I just interviewed everyone I worked with, asking them how they wanted their breakfast. We made this big photo series of everyone we work with, but we ran out of coworkers.
How do you choose who to feature?
I always say, “Hey, what’s up? I’m Alan, I’m a photographer.” I come in low, not to catch ’em off guard—like, I come in peace. There’s always a reason I stop somebody, and I tell them why. It’s always very specific. It’s just the truth. I think I do a good job of reading body language. I could do this with an iPhone, but people wouldn’t take me seriously.
Why breakfast?
Everybody loves breakfast, man. And you can infer something about someone based on their breakfast. It’s mellow, it’s nonintrusive, it’s laid-back. But I wanted to ask a question that had an answer.
You’ve lived in the Loop for two years. What do you love about the neighborhood?
The very first thing is proximity. I live in the Loop, I work in the Loop—it’s easy for me to do this in the Loop. That said, I’ve done this in other neighborhoods before, and they don’t have the cross section of people that the Loop does. I’m able to get the widest array of people. This is where everyone comes together and coexists for the day.
Epstein was photographed at Lou Mitchell's in the Loop.