The camera doesn’t lie

For years, I’ve been at peace with the fact that I don’t photograph particularly well. Every once in awhile, though, that point is driven home a little too bluntly.  Put me next to photogenic former Bears defensive end Dan Hampton, who is prepared for the snapshot (while I clearly am not), and  you won’t see a starker contrast.

Not even a professional photographer (an award-winning photographer at that) could make this guy look good!

This was taken Feb. 23 at McCormick Place, where the Chicago Dental Society held its Mid-Winter Meeting. My wife works for CDS, and every year I enjoy walking the exhibit floor basically to see how vendors in another industry display their wares. We have a little show of our own to worry about here.  So I am walking to the escalator and approaching the escalator opposite me is a guy who bears a strong resemblance to Hampton. Uncanny, I thought, but it definitely couldn’t be Hampton. After all, what would a retired defensive end be doing at a dental show? Of course, once he started talking to someone he was with, it was obvious that indeed this was Hampton, hanging out at a dental show. A vendor had hired him to sign autographs and take pictures with show attendants.  I was walking the floor with a friend of mine (the professional photographer), and we decided to get Hampton autographs. I had Danimal sign for my mother-in-law, whose birthday was only a few days later. (She sort of likes the Bears). When it was my turn for Hampton to sign with me, I walk up to him, shake his hand, look up, and smile. Apparently, Joel got me in between the part where I shook Hampton’s hand and the moment I looked up. I think I gawked at the Super Bowl ring, which, by the way is small by modern standards.

But yes, the lesson here is that I should never be photographed with anyone photogenic. It makes me look worse than usual!