Hitting the nerve.

I have gotten on people’s nerves during my life and chances are the readers of “Snap. Shot” have as well. In fact, I know of no one who has been able to avoid it. Sometimes it’s as simple as just talking too much, asking the wrong question at what you thought was the right time, or maybe it’s nothing you have done, they just are in a mood.

But there are other ways to hit a nerve and that’s what happened to me yesterday; I could not have been happier and more proud. For all you practical jokers, and I am one, it’s the greatest day of the year. For me, I believe nothing on April Fools Day; if it’s in the paper I assume it is a joke, if it’s online, I am sure it’s not true, but yesterday for a brief moment I let my guard down and bam, I got it square in the chops.

In our household we have a habit of doing anything and everything to pull a practical joke on April Fools Day. When my oldest kids were young we would often spend spring break down in Florida---and there were times when I was a millimeter from taking it too far. I used the principle of making sure their guard was down and nailing them when they least expected it.

There was one time when I “Accidently left my keys at the mall for the rental car we had rented.” What was funny was I was back at the condo and even though I knew it, “how did we get back if we didn’t have the keys?” Well, it didn’t really matter because logic had flown out the window and I was told, “That’s not funny.” Tell that to my kids---we still talk about it today. (We also talk about the ultimate joke I played, but that will not be discussed in “Snap. Shot.”) If you really want to know, e-mail me and I will tell you.

Yesterday I was waiting for a prescription to be filled; while I was waiting I received a text from my oldest daughter. She went on to explain that she had received a call and she was pissed. This was something that had happened before and it was taken care of---but having it happen again just shocked me. I called her and said, “Give me the number, I can not believe this has happened again.” She went on to say that she was pissed, I was pissed and that it was a real inconvenience. When she started laughing I knew she had me. I sat there and I reeled in the nerve she had stretched with what was a great practical joke. I was very proud and told her so. She relished it.

I did tell her that the ultimate joke played on me was from an assistant of mine a few years ago. She hit a nerve that was so far exposed I was surprised I didn’t scream. But she got me. She knew it would work and her style and technique was flawless. The entire office knew about it and enjoyed seeing me get tricked. But no one enjoyed it more than I did. Because if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.

The photo above is of our 5 daughters who live in our house, or who have lived in our house---one way or another, they make it a personal mission to get on my nerves. Whether it’s a joke, or not, they succeed. I am proud of each and every one of them, and when it’s my turn to pull one on them, you can be sure I will not get the response I gave today. Because let’s face it, Dad’s are not funny…we get on people’s nerves.

Thanks for stopping by.

Let’s call it a day.

I was talking to a friend the other day explaining “Snap.Shot.” how it started, what it’s all about and how the only way I plan to stop it is, if Sports Illustrated were to allow me to shoot photos at a professional sporting event. Not the finals, not even the Super Bowl, but as a photographer on the field with the official Sports Illustrated pass hanging from my neck. We talked, and I explained that with all that’s going on, this really is pressure I don’t need at this time in my life.

He said, “You know, you can go on hiatus or just stop. It’s not like you’re being paid to do this.” I said, “I know, but I made a personal commitment and I really don’t want to break it.” One of the problems I am having, as I further explained, is I’m running out of things to write about. I have written about animals, kids, sports, cities, life, death, you name it…it was the first time in 211 days when I felt the creative energy running out.

Because of this, I truly began thinking about stopping “Snap.Shot.”and maybe re-starting it in the fall or in 2011. First off, I’m really not sure how many people read it, I don’t even know if they enjoy it, and I just keep writing and “pushing it out to a group of people who I assume spend a few minutes with it” each day. I am not looking for empathy--I am just being honest with you the reader.

I even had plans to publish some of the “Best of the Best Snap. Shot. blogs,” to be written in book form, and given to my family. Some of my favorites like, the one about when I missed the shot of a life time on an airplane, my favorite photo of all time (the giraffes), and of course the articles I wrote about my Mom as she was fighting for her life during the months as she lie in bed dying of cancer. But the only way I could do it, was to start the book explaining how for one solid year, I wrote a blog; and how I wrote it each and every day not missing one single day. Kind of tough when you start out with, “I started this blog called ‘Snap. Shot.’ and wrote for 211 consecutive days” before I decided to quit. Kind of loses some of its punch, you know?

So I slept on it, and today woke up and thought, “I really don’t have the time to devote to keeping up a daily blog.” I considered, writing it once a week or a few times a week, but I know I will stop and not be consistent. Since I have decided not to write every day, I feel it’s best to just quit cold turkey. I will have time to read the paper on the train, do the crossword puzzles, and talk with people I don’t even know to pass this new time I have suddenly found. I have not done any of this in almost 6 months and honestly I miss it.

So, from today on, this will be my last “thanks for stopping by;” it really has been a lot of fun writing each and every day, and I hope you have enjoyed the journey. The photo above was taken outside of a school in Idaho. What people thought was a real school bus, turned out to be a practical joke played on the superintendent. A practical joke…can you believe it? You would think it was April Fools Day or something.

See you tomorrow---there’s no stopping me now!

Thanks for stopping by.

Pizza or steak tonight?

Maybe it’s me, but every time the catcher approaches the mound to talk with the pitcher, I have to wonder what they are talking about? Is it the height of his pitch, how to scare the batter, or better yet, “which restaurants are good here wherever we are playing?” I bet sometimes it’s food talk.

There have been countless times when I have been at sporting events when you know the team is just killing time. Maybe they are waiting for the relief pitcher to warm his arm up, or perhaps the goalie to get his pads on, who knows? They do. The one event I do remember was when I was a kid and the St. Louis Blues were playing--- they had only suited up one goalie for the game. I mean, what could possibly happen, why do have two goalies? All it means is more laundry after the game and who needs that? Then slap shot hit Jacques Plante, the Blues goalie, in the head. He was knocked out cold.

So what do you do? Of course, you as the defensemen skate out to center ice, drop your gloves and start pummel the unexpected winger from the other team. For good measure, and just to make sure your goalie is ready to play, why not have other members of the team get into it? This really happened, and probably took 20 minutes to clean everything up. A few minutes later, Glenn Hall was good to go in goal.

One thing about being a photographer, and this is just the way it is, but you really don’t use all of your senses when you are shooting pictures. Because of this, I am not always in tune with what’s going on around me. You certainly use your eyes, and you for sure use touch—but taste, hearing and smell are pretty much in a holding pattern. Okay, if someone is eating a hot dog or popcorn, you for sure can still feel the hunger pangs. But it’s funny you really do tune everything out. That’s why I try to catch the unexpected pictures, like a pitcher and catcher talking, because I think there is a story to tell when looking at it.

The photo above was taken at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI a few years ago. The game was going into 2+ hours, and you just knew both teams, especially the L.A. Dodgers were ready to call it a night. Of what I recall, both teams were out of playoff contention and had pretty much called it a season. They were just going through the motions and looking forward to time off. I didn’t have the opportunity to yell out to them, but if I had, I would have let them know there were some great restaurants in downtown Milwaukee…then again, they probably wanted to have a brat and you can find those at the concession stand.

Thanks for stopping by.

The City by the Bay.

I am sure a lot of people back in the 80’s thought the band Journey came up with the phrase, “City by the Bay” but I am reasonably sure no matter how talented of song writers they were, this moniker was well in place when Steve Perry belted out the lyrics.

I have spent a lot of time in San Francisco over the years. I have been fortunate to have some of the hottest food I have ever consumed, acted like the tourist I am by riding a cable car, and even walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. When you walk on the bridge you realize how windy it is facing the Bay, and how far the drop is below. Neither one was very appealing to me---but it was a very cool thing to do.

One thing that never happened to me was experience an earthquake. I am sure there was a tremor or two while I was there, but if there was, I don’t remember it; I believe they happen quite frequently so I am sure there was a small one probably in the middle of the night at least one time.

Probably one of my most memorable moments I had was when I passed Alcatraz by boat on my way to Sausalito---the thought of human beings housed in that facility is nothing more than frightening. I can’t imagine the feeling of being surrounded by water, with horrible conditions, and your only opportunity to escape (if you could) would be by swimming. They say only one or two people have done that---although to my knowledge they have never been seen again after they escaped. Not a good sign if you ask me.

There are many wonderful things about San Francisco once you put Alcatraz, earthquakes and fog behind you; they have some of the most beautiful bridges, piers, and homes I have ever seen. The hills that make up the city, position the homes in very odd configurations—these row houses are nothing like we have in Chicago. They make for an outstanding, colorful photo.

The photo above was taken from the rooftop of a restaurant one night while I was there on business. The combination of the dark blue sky, and neon lights, created a mixture of colors that only worked that night. If there had been fog, the photo would never have been taken…but like the other famous song goes, “I left my heart in San Francisco” but fortunately brought a memory home in my camera.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Penguin.

If you have not figured out what I did this past weekend, then you are not a frequent reader of “Snap. Shot.” We went to the zoo and had a really good time. We saw the lions, tigers, but no bears…oh no. They were in a secluded area as they are being transferred to a new home in the zoo, but it has yet to open.

When I went to work today I was talking with an associate and asked, “Do you ever go to the zoo?” He said, “Yeah about once a summer or so.” I said, “We go pretty often, I would say at least 25 times per year.” He thought I was kidding, but I wasn’t.

We did see some interesting sites however when we went. We saw a tiger that lost its tail, a leopard hiding up in probably one of the smallest crevices I have ever seen, and of course, we saw the fish with the huge mouth. (Probably one of the funniest pictures I have taken while at the zoo in quite a while.)

While we were there I must have been asked by my daughters at least 10 times if we could please buy one of the plastic molded animals. We've bought everyone at least once over the years; as you might guess, they don’t even make it out of the car before they are no longer wanted. So, I said, “How about we go on the carousel?” They knew the answer to the molded plastic animal because going on the carousel is one of the traditions when we go to the zoo. That, and having a snack at one of the eateries, and of course seeing the monkeys in the smelly monkey house. I sure hope they remember these times when they grow up!

The photo above was taken at one of the houses we do not visit each time we go to Brookfield zoo; I actually had to convince them to go because one of us (me) wanted to take a picture of a penguin. I have always thought penguins were some of the oddest creatures---I suspect it was either from my Batman days when Burgess Meredith played the penguin, or watching “The March of the Penguin’s Movie.” No matter which one moved me to want to see them on Saturday, unlike these unique creatures, I was not dressed for the occasion. I had red and blue on---not black and white.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tastes like chicken.

I am not a real adventurous eater. When I find something I like, I will eat it. If I really find something I enjoy, I will eat it that day and possibly have it again the next day. Not what I would call too terribly exciting I guess. Some of my tastes come from when I was growing up in St. Louis, where barbecue is found throughout the city. Here’s a little known fact for all you trivia lovers, which 2 cities fight it out for the most barbecue sauce consumed in America? That would be St. Louis and Kansas City. What’s one of the most popular barbecue sauce brands? Maull’s---where you “don’t baste your barbecue, you ‘Maull’ it.” If you have had Maull's recently, you know there are better sauces out there, but this brand is a tradition.

It was only when I moved to Chicago when I learned about food diversity. The thought of consuming raw fish wrapped in a seaweed roll was about as likely as my eating “Sambar”—one of the most popular Indian dishes. (I actually will not eat it, but I do like Sushi.) I will never forget when my Mom met my wife the first time we went to dinner. When it was suggested “calamari” be ordered, my Mom literally spit out her water. She thought it was a joke---however, it wasn’t. It was a very memorable moment that we still laugh about every time we order it. Even though my Mom is no longer alive, I doubt she would have eaten it anyhow.

I am not sure of the origin of the phrase, “Taste’s like Chicken," but I do know it has been stated when alligator, frog leg’s and other foods were served at dinners I have attended. I didn’t try the frog’s legs because it reminds me of one of the funniest comedy albums ever, “That’s Not Funny That’s Sick” and I guess the visual of a frog on crutches coming out of the kitchen made it un-appealing. I did try alligator, and by the way, it really does kind of taste like chicken. At the zoo yesterday we saw an alligator that was probably 10 feet long; it might taste like chicken, but it would certainly put up more of a fight than chicken should you get in its way.

The photo above was taken in one of the “houses” at the zoo. My daughters wanted to go in one of the rooms and saw a boy inside this big fishes mouth; that was all it took for them to want to do the same. Once I saw how funny it looked, I knew this one had potential. I found the dangling legs to be really funny, and took enough pictures to know I got the shot. After we left and went home, I made some funky meal---when I asked how it was, they said, “It tastes like chicken.”

Thanks for stopping by.

Upfront and personal.

Many of us have met some famous people over time. I have met a few, but now in my profession, there is a fairly good likelihood I will be meeting more. At least I believe so. Yesterday in our office one of Hollywood’s famous stylists came in to discuss opportunities where he might be a good fit for projects we work on with our clients. It was interesting to meet him because he is in a field I really know very little about. However, the money he makes, and the access to some of Hollywood’s Super A-list celebrities, was kind of fun to hear about.

When he started talking about “Sandy” Bullock, Charlie Sheen, and Christi Brinkley, like they exchange holiday cards and know one another’s cell phone numbers, it did take me into a world that is kind of cool. No we didn’t discuss any of these stars situations---but as we all know “cheating” is a part of each one of their lives in one way or another. I guess being beautiful, and well known, really does have its downfalls---and when it hits the internet, everyone knows every detail.

It turned out this person left Hollywood and moved to New York. His rationale was really interesting; because of the economic downturn, even the stars are being affected. They don’t want anyone to know of course, but to the insiders, they all know. To the stylists who are accustomed to making big dollars from these celebrities it makes for a very uncomfortable situation. So he left the comfort of the West Coast and moved cross-country and has seen his business thrive on a lot of different fronts.

As a photographer, there are times when you have the opportunity to get upfront and personal in ways where other people will never be allowed to travel. Whether it’s a photo shoot for a magazine where the person is photographed in a tub of milk, with only paint on their body, or a million different poses, you can find all of these pictures online as they are real. Boy that would be one cool photoshoot.

The photo above was taken today at Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago; when we saw a crowd gathered in front of the area where they house the lions, I had no idea what to expect. When I saw the male lion, the camera came out and was in high speed---I loved the look on the lion’s face and most of all I was very glad there was a large piece of thick glass!

Thanks for stopping by.