Inauguration 2009
“…it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.” -from Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech
These 11 photos are my little tribute to the Americans that Obama conjured, or at least the ones that came out on that very cold day. Having covered the 2005 Inauguration of President Bush from a secure and isolated perch on the Capitol with many other photographers, I wanted this time to be close to the people. I had the idea that I wanted to shoot portraits of young children for whom a black president might feel normal and members of a much older generation, many of whom could never imagine the election of Barack Obama. Due to time constraints and massive crowds, the pictures turned into a vignette of the experience around the Washington Monument. I did not do this consciously but I noticed that most of my subjects are not wearing Obama merchandise. Perhaps relfecting my own hope for a unified America…or maybe I was just trying to get past cliches. I shot 23 frames on an old Yashica Mat-124G TLR from about 9am to 10am. By 10am, the area was shoulder to shoulder and I was afraid I would not find my way back to my wife and friends. View the video below to see the amount of people I had to wade through to find them. I also thought it would be interesting to contrast my 2009 photos with my 2005 photos.
View the 2009 Inauguration pictures
View the 2005 Inauguration pictures
- This video I shot on a point and shoot camera when Obama was introduced gives an idea of how crowded it was.
