being brave as a photographer

I viewed the slideshow with audio about photographing presidential campaigns by Geoff McGhee, Stephen Crowley, Lisa Tozzi and Judith Schlieper from the New York Times. It was outstanding.

First, after seeing some of the slideshows in class, I feel like slideshows without audio are missing something. Instead of having audio from the subjects themselves (as was the case with the examples in class), this slideshow had the photographers commenting on the photos, telling viewers background information and talking about how some of their favorite shots came to be. One of the shots was of President Reagan's final hours in the Oval Office, and the photographer said they drew names out of a hat to see which of them would get to be there. Sometimes luck is just luck.

Another difficulty they illustrated well is the problem of getting different shots and moods every day when you're following the same candidate around. In one instance, thinking John Kerry would step over a gap in the stage to talk to some workers, the photographer got down there and laid down on his back, waiting. Sure enough, Kerry did come, and he got a great picture. For those of us who still feel invasive with a camera, that kind of boldness is a long way away.