I have always loved analyzing photographs of historic events so I'd been thinking for awhile about where I wanted to be with my camera on Inauguration Day 2009. At first I thought it would be great to document the event with Asher and his 600 middle school classmates as they watched the ceremony together in the school auditorium, but after throwing this idea out to him, I thought maybe it would be better for him to have that experience without the influence of Mom. It wasn't until I was heading home after dropping him at school that morning that I realized the Mt. Baker Theatre was showing the event on the main stage. The Mt. Baker Theatre is a place of special personal significance to me and one of my favorite buildings in Bellingham, so I could not think of a better place to experience such an historical event. I raced home, exchanged glasses for contacts, grabbed my camera and headed back downtown. I arrived at the theater to a crowd on its feet, cheering as President Elect Barack Obama arrived on the balcony to watch his vice president take his own inaugural oath. The lights were dimmed so my opportunities for photos were narrow (not to mention I was quite engrossed in this event!) but I managed to get off a handful of shots that capture the essence of the experience...
I really love this picture and had to shoot several of them to get both the full face of the baby and the new president in frame. I can't help but think about how this is a defining moment in this child's life and how he is blissfully (and perhaps fortunately?) unaware.
After I left the theater, I thought it would be fun to take a walk around downtown and document signs of the day. I was simultaneously stunned and thrilled to realize that the inauguration was the talk of the town... every group of people or person on a cell phone that I passed was engrossed in conversation about our new president. Regardless of our personal political beliefs, I think we all can agree this is a strange and wonderful turn of events in the United States of America.
This is my favorite shot of the day. I was simply getting another shot of the headlines when I saw this pair crossing the street so I waited a few seconds for them to fall into perfect place- never anticipating that this guy would make the shot 100 times better by flashing me the peace sign!
