"The Other Grammys" at the South Shore Cultural Center

Being a photographer, I get paid to record the coolest stuff. This is part of that "coolest stuff."

This is The Other Grammys, a black-tie awards banquet for African Americans who are setting strong, positive examples for others — and a fund-raiser for the Jones African American Club. The students in that club are putting the money together to fly to Ghana for a spring-break sabbatical to meet students there.

The evening included poetry reading, tributes to singers Sade and Bob Marley, the awards and more. I was assigned to only one aspect of the show — the Youth Guidance Community Schools dancers.

They showed their audience dance styles from both the Caribbean and western Africa.

For dances, I often focus on close-ups, but I pulled it back quite a bit on this night, because of the facility that hosted the event. Hopefully my photos are conveying the beauty of the South Shore Cultural Center.

If not, you ought to find a reason to visit it yourself — it's part of my "coolest stuff."

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Christmas portrait: unleash the beasts!

I'm finding more families that want to add something extra onto the traditional posed Christmas photos. Tom and Carol told me they wanted to include their pets — and that they wanted to get some spontaneous photos as well.

Their kids, Joy and Luke, added plenty of spontaneity.

They have a rabbit, Apache, and two turtles, T-Rex (the friendly one) and Happy (she smiles while she bites you). We got the posed shots out of the way, then shined up the shells, brushed down the fur and brought out the beasts!

Apache hopped around a little, but once the carrot sticks came out, he settled down and munched.

T-Rex and Happy, however, could not be held back — only dragged back!

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Stephanie Rogers: soccer rocker

Stephanie Rogers says she feels like she's in the witness protection program sometimes. She leads a double life, and a growing number of people know about her dual identities.

Stephanie is a pop-folk singer and songwriter, who belts her music out in a soul/R & B style...and lives in the architecturally-exaggerated Wilmette home you see around her, with husband John and 9-year-old Charlie in tow. By her own admission, it's an odd duality.

"I'm a soccer mom/rocker," she said. "My father says I'm the most straight-laced rocker ever. I really can't stand the 'rocker' lifestyle."

Yet she is making her way through it — our photos are for the artwork that will go into her third CD.

Her music career began with the threat of her life ending.

While studying theater at Northwestern University, Stephanie was the vocalist in a "screaming and yelling progressive funk band," Fish Of Destiny. "I didn't know what the heck I was doing," she said, and the gig was mainly for fun. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to make it as an actress.

But in her mid-20s, thyroid cancer struck her. It is an operable cancer, and Stephanie moved back to Chicagoland for the surgeries.

"As I was laying in the hospital bed, I realized that life is short."

Stephanie decided she wanted to see what she was capable of musically. Singing, guitar and piano lessons followed — no more screaming, yelling and goofing around.

"I became a professional musician at the age of 30."

It was the beginning of a second identity for Stephanie. She founded her own record label and publishing company, and titled her first album "Your New Life."

She started writing pop rock with folk blended in. I asked why. She said it was realest to her.

"That's what comes out."

"When I sing live, though, I'm definitely drawing on the soul music."

Stephanie studies retro Motown and old gospel records for influence. Come and see her sometime and make up your own name for it, but whatever it is, it works. She sings to herself while walking around her home, and the little taste that I got was appetizing.

I asked her why she emulates music that comes from a lifestyle she has never touched. Her answer was a real as a soul singer's should be.

"I don't have tough life experiences like that," she said, but her appreciation is genuine. In January, Stephanie promoted, organized and taught a class on the history of soul music: At the Wilmette Theater, she put a 10-piece band together, set up a PowerPoint presentation and performed a full concert with lessons in between the songs.

Stephanie still takes acting assignments when the right part comes along, but John and Charlie are above all. Most of her days are spent as Stephanie The Soccer Mom In The SUV.

The license plate says "HIPCHICK." It's a subtle clue to this suburbanite's secret identity.

"It's like the witness protection program. I'm an undercover artist."

But with her next album, more of the truth is surfacing.

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Carol and Tina in the Singer Spotlight

Carol Simbler and Tina Jenkins Crawley rocked the house at Fitzgerald's Night Club.

Carol opened up with "It's Been You."

Another well-known, well-regarded facet of Singer Spotlight is "the band." Among Chicago musicians, all one has to do is say "Yeah, Fitzgerald's, they got that band..." Just listen to everyone start going "Dude, yeah..."

The hostess, Becca, normally ends the Singer Spotlight shows...but this particular night was Tina's CD release party, so she let her have the stage last.

She used it to the max.

This gentleman is Nick Bisesi, husband and sax player for Gayle Bisesi, the jazz singer who played right before Carol and Tina. I didn't get any pictures of her (sorry), because I just sat down and enjoyed her performance.

Tina got a standing ovation for her final song, "Don't Give Up."

Everything that happened that night can be seen here.

The 2009 Chicago Marathon

We came out to cheer, but as the thousands of physically fit athletes pushing their bodies to the brink of self-destruction raced by me, I could not resist. I started acting goofy.

"You're doing great!" my friends yelled. "You're running a marathon!!"

"I'm so tired, I was up before dawn!" I yelled while camped out at mile 21. "I'm freezing, and my feet are killing me!"

That was because my crew of positive-minded, stranger-encouraging cheerleaders was at the Chicago Marathon from start to finish — and when I say finish, I mean at the end line, 8 and a half hours after the starting gun sounded. We stood among the crowds downtown at miles 2 and 13, then had the corner of Halsted and Archer (mile 21) almost all to ourselves...then waited at the finish for the construction trucks to get off the course and allow the last 100 or so runners through.

Along the way, we cheered on almost a dozen friends from the Chicago Church of Christ, including:

J.D., who was looking cheerful even though his wife...

...Annie, was beating him by about 15 minutes. She kindly slowed up at the end, and they finished togther.

Peter, whose third marathon was his best time ever. We knew he would post a personal best, because months of worrying and wondering had ended for him only 2 days earlier, when his wife, Deb, gave birth to their first son. Deb, being the strong and giving woman that she is, let her husband race while she and Jeremiah recovered.

Kostya (hugging Jeff) and his wife Shannon (in the green beanie hat, plowing over another runner to get a hug herself), who were first-time competitors and jogged the entire distance.

And Ben, who was escorted across the finish by Amanda and Adrian, then greeted by his fiance, Carrie, in the pink beanie. Ben drew a good amount of attention from the course officials, who recognized him after the race as Most Hardcore, Pain-Eating, Self-Preservation-Ignoring First-Time Marathoner.

And while I was there, I grabbed a few shots of individuals running for groups I've either been a part of or supported in some way, including...

Rock For Reading...

Best Buddies...

and PAWS Chicago.

As always, there was: A limbo line of costume-clad wackos, lending themselves to some fun shots; inspiring stories to watch go by, in particular the man in full Army fatigues and boots, carrying a packed rucksack on his back and running all 3 times I saw him; and this older athlete here. She looked wise enough to know better, but all 3 of the times I saw her, she was jogging, too. I spotted her crossing the finish...and I spotted a younger man trying to elbow his way up to the chain-link fence on the side of the end line, camera in hand, but no good angle available. I grabbed a few pictures for him — he told me he'd been looking for her the whole race, had missed her at every spot, and had been hoping to get a shot of her going across the finish. Hopefully this will do...

And as always, there was reason to celebrate with friends.

Jon and Amanda: When love makes you crazy

"My heart was closed for a long time, and she reopened it."

The story of Jon and Amanda's love, which culminated in their Sept. 19 wedding in Wilmette, IL, is one of unexpected stops and starts. As they told me in our pre-wedding interview, they met, dated, broke up, tried to find something right with someone else, couldn't, and spent some time apart and alone.

After breaking up in 2007, they remained friends and always texted each other. It gets interesting in late August 2008.

"The second time around, Jon swept me off my feet."

But he had to do it with a little caution, since he had an ankle brace at the time.

Both bride and groom are competitors, and in the summer of '08, Amanda asked him about running with her in The Human Race in Chicago. Jon agreed, but on a training jog, he sprained his ankle.

The injury was severe enough to require a brace. Jon did not tell her about it until the met the morning of the event, after she asked what that thing around his ankle was. As he told me, he knew that if he backed out on her, for any reason, she would call him a wuss. If you doubt that, read on.

(Logan, the uber-photogenic flower girl)

Jon made it through the entire course, though he did have to walk a few spells. Both found the slower pace surprisingly enjoyable, as they spent the entire time talking like they had been seeing each other every day.

They reached the finish line — and Jon was feeling something he had not expected at the start line. He wanted to kiss her.

He didn't. That was Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008.

(Immediately following the first kiss: the first high-five)

The next day, Jon sent her a text: "I told her I wished I would have kissed her."

She texted back: "I said 'What are you, chicken?'"

By Tuesday, Jon was going insane. He called the Starbucks where Amanda works and asked what time she would start the next day. Amanda was opening the Starbucks in Skokie at 5 a.m.

Jon lives in Hoffman Estates. He left at 4 a.m.

"You're so stupid," she declared as he walked through her shop's door, "what are you doing here at 5 a.m.?"

He had come to collect that kiss.

"Who's chicken now?" he said before leaving his once-again girlfriend.

During our interview, Amanda confessed to being a little tough at times. She needs it: She coaches the Evanston Wildkits softball team.

"I'm on overdrive 24-7. Jon's the laid back, observant one."

(Jon and Amanda walked into their reception to the Notre Dame fight song, then did a victory lap around the head table)

And she made clear her gratitude for his patience.

"Nobody has ever treated me the way Jon has treated me," she began. "It's an unselfish love. I'm not always easy."

(Toward the end of one of the liveliest dances I've ever photographed, Paul the DJ played "Friends In Low Places")

But, as Jon made clear, she will now always be his, regardless of whether she makes it tough or easy.

"I told myself if I got another chance, I would just go all out," he said. "That's what I did."

"Everything has fallen into place.

"Every time that I see her, I smile. I wish it had happened a lot sooner."