Inaugural Balls

Barack Obama will be sworn in at the 55th Presidential Inauguration on January 20th. This will be the fourth inauguration I've photographed.

I remember my last inauguration like it was yesterday. There I was, the night before the inauguration up on a 5-story open scaffolding with 300 other photographers...only my position was smack in the middle of the platform on the highest level.

All of a sudden there was a tap on my shoulder and a badge in my face. A voce said, "Secret Service, " Oops! what the hell did they want? They wanted to see my badge, which, of course, I showed them. They grabbed it, still on the chain around my neck, looked at it with a scowl and pushed it back to me with a look of disgust. They were pissed for having to walk up five stories on a swaying rig. I asked what the problem was. Apparently one of the other photographers reported me as having a counterfeit badge. Well, of course mine looked different. It was gold pass (see above), one of only 74 that allowed the photographer full access to all areas. I pumped my fist in the air, looked at a bunch of the guys I knew from other events and yelled, "YES!!!!" My adrenaline high.
This year I'm shooting three inaugural balls. The most I ever have at one inaugural, but then again, this is unlike any other inaugural I ever worked. This year I want to take photographs that the people will pass on to their grandchildren, to say I hurried up to stand around for 4-6 hours and then to photograph for 4-5 hours straight, no break, no food, maybe a drink of water, and the grand prize, the brass ring on the merry-go-round, a badge. A badge that very few photographers in the country will have. That junky piece of plastic says, I DID IT, a souvenir, a piece of history, a notch in the belt of a gunfighter.