On a chilly November day in 2012, I traveled to Concord, New Hampshire, to take shoot President Obama. The entire area was packed with people, and I had to navigate through the crowds, all eager to get as close as possible to the president. First, I had to go through a security checkpoint that involved a bag search and an X-ray backscatter scan. I was sandwiched between a bunch of people, unsure if I would be allowed into the main square with my camera gear.
Fortunately, I didn’t get stopped, and once through the security gate, I started to move towards the front. There was a huge crowd, all bunched together like sardines, and I had to squeeze through to try and get a view of the president. As I got closer, I could see the Secret Service agents on roof tops with sniper rifles aimed at the pressing crowd. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, “What if something happens?” John F. Kennedy came to mind as I scanned all the people crushed against me. After slowly squeezing through the crowd, I was within 100 feet of the stage and could just make out Obama between two bald heads and a baseball cap.
I struggled to get my camera out, conscious that a Secret Service agent might mistake me for getting a gun out of my backpack! But no, the crowd was surging, and I managed to aim my camera in the direction of the stage. All of a sudden, the bobbing heads parted, and I got my shot! Click, click, click! I was shooting Obama. It’s certainly not a great photo by any means, but it was the challenge and the adventure that inspired me, and I’m proud of my shot of Obama.