John Kerry Rally - No. 1

== == == == Click on the thumbnails to see more pictures of the John Kerry Rally == == == ==

So I heard that John Kerry was going to be in town again and I decided to go and take some pictures of the rally. Heck, the election is only 8 days away and there's a very good chance that this guy might be President of the United States next week and I thought that it would be pretty cool to have pictures of a President days before he got elected.

So I made a few calls, got a press pass, borrowed a $1,500 lens from my friends over at Studio Fourty Four and went over at the appointed time for the press to set up their equipment at 4:00 in the afternoon. He wasn't scheduled to arrive until 9:00 so I figured that I'd bring a book and just do some people watching. Little did I know that it was going to be outside (note to self, keep a hat and gloves in the car in case of emergency.)

So I set up my stuff and then clear the area for the Secret Service to sweep for bombs and other bad stuff and that's when I started getting freaked out. Earlier in the day I was really nervous, but when I saw all those guys with guns, dogs, earpieces, sunglasses, bad haircuts and even worse dark suits my mind started to imagine the possibilities.

After a while my mind calmed and I just hung out for hours, waiting for the candidate to arrive. The Democratic Party Staff Members were running around frantically, chain-smoking and drinking coffee yelling at each other that John Bon Jovi hopped on Kerry's Plane at the last stop (Philadelphia) and was going to do a surprise set. That was kind of cool, I thought. I'm no Bon Jovi fan, but you should have seen the reaction he got from the crowd. I often forget how outside of the mainstream I am.

So, the plane landed at 10:00, Kerry spoke for about 20 minutes, I took about 300 pictures.Overall, an interesting evening filled with hours of waiting for just a few minutes of shooting pictures.

Green Bay, WI
1/500 sec. @ f/5.6 - 1600 ISO
Canon 300D/Canon EF 100-400mm IS USM/Canon 1.6 Converter