Like so many of my stories, this one again starts with “So, Joel and I…….”

So Joel and I spent most of the afternoon in Chicago just enjoying downtown and of course we took some photos as we roamed about the downtown. It had been a few years since I was actually in the downtown area and I so forgot how awesome this place is. From the food to the architecture, I truly understand why Chicago is one of the greatest city’s in the world.

This is the new SkyDeck on the Observation Deck of Willis Tower. The greatest part of this experience was watching Joel being a complete jerk to the women who were scared to walk out on the ledge 🙂

The L at the Corner of S. Wabash Ave and E. Monroe St.

Sing it with me! “Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage…”

Then Joel and I had the “incident” as it will be known as. We were walking from Grant Park to Navy Pier when we came across this truck with a huge amount of camera gear of it. As we were walking towards it to investigate I saw the guy in the Dodge Challenger turn his head and I told Joel that was Vince Vaughn. As soon we both realized what was happening we instinctively raised our cameras and…..

the Sugar Honey Iced Tea hit the fan…

The mountain of a man who stood a few feet from us yelled “NO CAMERAS!!!”, but it was too late. *click* goes Joel’s camera. At this moment Mr. Mountain Man was not too happy with my cousin, so we put our cameras down and just observed. Well we both knew we REALLY wanted pictures of this but we had to figure out how to do it. I told Joel to step away and go into the bushes behind us could go get his zoom lens on, hide in the bushes and get the shot, while I stayed on site and run “interference” and draw attention to myself so Joel could go get the shots.

My mistake.

As Joel was hiding and changing his lens, Vince left in the car to go film a take. With nothing on the site to draw the attention of the filming crew, they turned their attention to the guy holding the huge SLR camera. I was told in multiple ways, by multiple security that I was making them nervous. So I put my camera behind my back. All that got me was a visit from one the dudes that was not part of security but was best described as a site manager. After this stern and very forceful conversation I walked about 200′ away, regrouped with Joel found out that that he didn’t get his lens on until after Vince drove away. My troubles were all for nothing.

But alas, this only inspired us.

We devised that as soon as Vince came back we would go back to our spots, this time with my camera in its bag so they can’t say anything to me but since I already had the attention of security, I should be a good distraction for Joel.

Nope. Not even close. They were so on to us.

They had people watching us the moment we started walking back to the site when Vince showed back up. I saw a guy go to the area where I knew Joel was hiding and yell “YOU, PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE BUSHES!!!”. I am not going to lie, I kinda giggled to myself that Joel was finally getting some of what I got from the security guards. Needless to say our cover was blown and we had no chance of being within any range to get any photo. Joel came to me, and in front of the security guards, we spoke that we agreed we were leaving and heading to Navy Pier.

Or did we? 😀

See, we had the advantage of seeing and knowing where the “scene” they were filming was most likely going. Sooooo we moved a couple of blocks away, placed ourselves behind some trees and hoped that there was going to be another take. Well after a few minutes, you can tell me what happened.

I win.

After a little research the movie is going to be called “The Dilemma” and stars Vince Vaughn and Kevin James and is being directed by Ron Howard. Who would have know that the short walk from Grant Park to Navy Pier would have been so eventful!