“STAY IN YOUR DESIGNATED SPOTS, always wear your IDs, and do not make any sudden moves!” the burly Secret Service agent barked out orders from inside an incongruously bulky trench coat on a sweltering July day.

Covering presidential visits and papal audiences have their own quirky requirements. The wait can seem endless, and the anticipation, especially for the uninitiated like me, almost unbearable. This isn’t my day job (thank God, the pros tell me all the time), but there is something about shooting VIPs that always gets a photographer’s adrenalin pumping and makes it almost worth it. A name-dropping session this certainly is not, but here’s a disclosure for context. Through the years I’ve covered a Playboy heiress, a basketball legend, and football and baseball superstars, among other Chicago notables.