I have to give my dad and grandfather the credit.
I have always been intrigued with Presidential elections. This may be because I grew up in New Hampshire and my dad was in the loop with the campaigns which stopped by Hanover… a hub location for rallies. He was not only an photographer, but also on the Hanover Police force and was always on duty during visits.
My grandfather was also a professional photographer, who worked in many locations in New England. I am blessed to own the original prints and negatives he created of Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Frost, and Norman Rockwell. I hold dear my Dad’s negative of JFK taken on a snowy afternoon outside the historic Hanover Inn. My mom’s photographs of Barbara Bush are also in my collection.
During high school I got a bug for photojournalism. My family was shopping at a mall in Manchester NH on a school winter break when my dad pointed out Dick Gephardt, Republican Presidential candidate at a Presser in the Mall. I was ON it. I jumped in the pool of photographers and grabbed my shots with the 35 mm Canon black and white camera which I carried with me night and day.
Presidential Candidate Jack Kemp was the next one I tracked down in Hanover. My dad saw my excitement over Gephardt and told me as about the opportunity as he had to do police duty for it, and dropped me off with my camera in hand to wait for Kemp to leave the presser outside of the Hanover Inn in the sub zero temps. I got my shot!
A few years later I was in Northern Vermont at college, and one of my government teachers suggested a group of us skip his evening class and get extra credit to travel 2.5 hours across the Northwest part of the state and go to a VP elect Al Gore rally for Presidential candidate Clinton. Oh yes!….
I pushed my way to the front of the University of Vermont Hall (later that year I went back to the same place for a Public Enemy concert...who would have known!) and I photographed Howard Dean and Patrick Leahy introducing future VP Al Gore…and then I captured the future Vice President, himself. It was an incredible night, once again, as I really felt the energy of new leaders, who were making history, and I loved the challenge to document it for my self assignment.
In 1994, I was officially in photography school. Photojournalism 101 was the assignment. I loved brainstorming with Dad about my homework. I was walking in his footsteps and was proud to have him in my photography world. Dad mentioned to me Bob Dole was going to be in town. What?…Bob Dole? Oh yes!
The best thing about photographing Bob Dole is I had my Medium format along with my 35mm. The assignment needed me to use my Bronica, which was a larger camera and negative. This definitely turned a lot of heads in the press pool. It was a joy to complete my Photojournalism 101 assignment with a top notch sitter.
Two years later I moved to Washington DC, and truly was a blessed soul working in a studio that plomped me into locations like the Willard and Hay-Adams Hotel, and events including ones like the 1997 National Prayer Breakfast and a Senate Meet and Greet in the US Capitol with ESPN Celebrities. I remember two things about that US Capitol event as a 25 year old…the security dogs would not leave one of my light stand bags alone, (…the duct tape inside confuses sniffers apparently), and Newt Gingich winked at me, which made me uncomfortable. It wasn’t until 20 years later I learned from a friend in Southern California that “Newt winks at everyone”, including him… Ok…that mystery was solved.
I left DC in 1999 to work in Southern California, which allowed my amazing corporate opportunities photographing speakers such as Past President William J Clinton, Admiral William McRaven and Formal British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The beginning of 2020 allowed me a special opportunity to photograph and meet a few of the Democratic Presidential Candidates as I had an emergency trip to be with my mother in Hanover on New Years Day. Little did I know Hanover was hopping with rallies such as Elizabeth Warren, Tusli Gabbard and Tom Steyer during my visit. I was renewed with passion, as with each “self-assignment” I learned more techniques for documenting their distinct lighting, crowds and emotion of their 90 minute talks. I was able to be quiet as a mouse, yet jump forward when I need to make a shot happen.
My father, who passed in 2009, was surely smiling down on me as I created the best documentation of these events. I had pride in stopping time just as he did with John F Kennedy right outside the Hanover Inn on a snowy day, as I was, during this historical year of 2020.
In February of 2020, only a few weeks later I had the tv on a quiet So Cal weekday in February to hear local news announce Bernie Sanders was speaking only about 20 minutes away from my home, in, oh… about 2 hours. My camera was already packed!….You know the rest of the story…