When One Photo Door Closes or Get Your Butt Out Of The Comfort Zone.

I shot the second inauguration of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley last week. I had to go to the State House the day before for a press briefing and to mark my spot on the elevated press riser, which was on the right side of the main stage. Good thing I did because those who showed up the day of the inauguration had a tough time getting a good clear spot. It is a funny thing when I shoot an event from a crowded press riser. I get afraid to leave it, for fear I will miss a shot or not get my space back when I return.

This was the case for the inauguration. I arrived for the assignment hours before the start time, put my gear down in my spot and stood there waiting. As I waited, the riser started filling, those with spots took them, and those without, well, they started squeezing. The press riser was actually pretty large; the only problem was half of it was useless for still and video shooters. There was a huge tree in between half the riser and the stage.

I actually did leave the stage at one point before the event started to shoot the governor and his family take the walk from his home to the State House. To my surprise, my spot was still there. I did have some tripod "creep" (the act of a video guy's tripod slowly advancing into my spot) from a TV guy, but it was quickly moved out of my area.

So I am back in spot, the event starts and I am shooting the talking heads at the podium. These shots were OK, but they were nothing that got me too excited. O'Malley was the final speaker of the day. I knew from the press briefing that his speech would be about 15 minutes. After about five minutes of shooting from my spot, I felt that I had covered it from that point of view and dare I say it, left the riser. I wanted a shot from the front of the stage.

I see a couple of other shooters working form the front center section of the crowd seating and I started making my way over to that area. This is when an overzealous Department of General Services police officer stops me. I give the "you are not a nice person" look and ask why can't I go where the other shooters are, to which he does not answer. So I kneel there, crouched down in front of the guest, with some "you are not a nice person" words under my breath for about a minute. Then I think time is running out and I have to quit sulking and make a shot. This is when it hits me that I could go back a section, around the crowd sitting, and he would not see me.

This worked to my advantage. While I did not get to the area I wanted to go originally, as I was working towards that area I saw the governor, giving his speech, framed by a giant American flag in the background. It stopped me in my tracks. I kneeled down and started making pictures. I got some I really liked and was glad I left my comfort spot on the riser.

So the moral of this story is when one photo door closes, look around, because another could be opening. While I still think the DGS cop was a "not a nice person" for blocking me from doing my job, I am glad that it worked out for the best. Then again who knows what kind of shot I missed. Just kidding.