I Smell Elections in the Air…

I will start off this post by saying that secret service agents have very strong grips… Read on to find out why I know that…

I love being in the middle of political rallies.  This is a historic election and it’s great to be involved in it.  I have covered McCain a couple of times before– once in Dallas during the Texas primaries and again this past labor day in O’Fallon, MO (which was also Palin’s first rally). I have also covered Obama, Hillary and Huckabee.  Obama seems to avoid me and schedules rallies when I am the most busy.

My theory when shooting something is to keep shooting until somebody tells you to move.  I did just that.  When I got to the BBQ joint, everyone was moved to the other side of the street.  I got around this by hiding inside a business next door and shot through their large glass storefront.  Not the greatest shots:

Posting up in a store nearby since the police wouldn't let us any closer

Posting up in a store nearby since the police wouldn't let us any closer

So, bad shots of McCain coming out of the restaurant… I realize the police don’t really care about us anymore, so I slowly make my way to the crowd where McCain is greeting supporters:

Cool, I'm close, Maybe I can get closer?

Cool, I'm close, maybe I can get closer?

Then, he decides to come a little closer and nobody is telling me to move, so I keep shooting…

Ok, I am happy with this… but wait, is he getting even closer to me???

I think I am just lucky at this point.

I think I am just lucky at this point.

I follow him down the line as he shakes hands– secret service are moving past me but don’t seem to mind me– I’m not hurting anything…

I think this is when I got too close.  How do I know?  Probably because I was grabbed by secret service, yelled at by that lady behind him and then told by John McCain himself that I “need to stay back.”  Ok, point taken:

A little too close for comfort...

A little too close for comfort...

So what lesson did I learn??  Keep taking pictures.  And, objects in the wide angle lens are closer than they appear.  I guess I didn’t realize how in the way I was until I actually took the camera from my face.  But, no harm, no foul… I’ve learned my lesson.

And I’ll look forward to getting the extra screening next time I go to the airport…

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