KOVAL’s founders left their careers in part because they wanted to move back to the city they loved: Chicago. The city has always played an important role in our company’s identity, and we are proud that our products are 100% Chicago-made. We draw inspiration from others who love this city as much as we do and believe that there are so many ways that this city is celebrated in the work and lives of those who call it home.
Danny Mota, quite literally, captures Chicago in the moment. Aside from being the content manager for Havas Worldwide, he is a well-known Chicago Instagrammer. We first discovered his Instagram talents in a Buzzfeed post titled “14 Instagram Accounts That Make The Chicago Cold Look Worth It”. There is something distinctly special about the way he captures the city; his pictures are thought provoking and abounding with raw emotion. When he agreed to set the KOVAL bottle against the Chicago landscape for us, we were thrilled.
For Mota, Chicago has afforded him a particular Weltanschauung, as he says, “[It] has shaped the way that I see things.” This ability to see through the eyes of the city developed when Mota was a child. Driving down Lake Shore Drive with his mother to pick up his father after work, he would sleepily gaze out the window looking up at the majestic illuminated skyscrapers, seeing Chicago as a “city mother” comforting him as he fell asleep. The warmth he feels for the city is not only apparent in his images but also the captions, always thoughtfully worded.
Indeed what drew Mota to the Instagram platform itself were the beautiful ways people were interpreting the city in their posts – a forum for discovering new visual voices. Mota became particularly intrigued by the work of Jason Peterson, drawn to his monochrome images and raplyric captions. Peterson showed him that Instagram could be a way to create a personal brand while establishing the value of individual style. Mota in turn caught Peterson’s attention by commenting on his Instagram posts. The day that Peterson started following him on Instagram, Mota remembers saying to his girlfriend, “Now I have to start taking decent shots.” Mota admits that he has seen progression in his shots since his start but says, “I never consider myself a photographer, simply a picture taker for now.” Peterson, the Chief Creative Officer for Havas Worldwide, however saw Mota’s talent, arranging for him to interview with his agency. Mota has since become content manager of Havas Worldwide.
The pictures Mota takes are beautiful: whimsical, at times philosophical or fancifully distorted. Shots of the Cloud Gate statue at 5 am and unique vantage points of downtown fill Mota’s Instagram feed. His distinct style highlights Chicago in uncommon ways, such as how he captured for us, the spirit of the city.
To view more of Mota’s work, visit his Tumblr page: http://yosoymota.tumblr.com/
