I'll be photographing a rally for Barack Obama tomorrow at which Bill Clinton will be speaking. The information on the event states no bags and please limit personal items. I'm assuming credentialed media are excluded from this? Not sure how I'd get all of my gear there otherwise.
I would ask the media contact there but there is none to be found, basically you submit your credential request online and they state that if they can't accommodate you they'll notify you.
Has anyone photographed an event like this before? If so, any light you could shed on the process would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, credentialed media should be exempted from that rule. I'd expect to have your bag(s) very thoroughly searched, so I'd still plan on packing light and arriving very early. I've worked for, with and around heads of state multiple times and it always involves being screened by some variation of the police and Secret Service, including occasional pat-downs and bomb dogs. Be smart and leave things like the Leatherman at home.
Not having a press contact and issuing credentials online is a little weird...I'd definitely look further into it and see if you can find someone with the authority to confirm your access, rather than just assuming that the lack of a denial equals approval and showing up.
shatterkiss wrote:
Yes, credentialed media should be exempted from that rule. I'd expect to have your bag(s) very thoroughly searched, so I'd still plan on packing light and arriving very early. I've worked for, with and around heads of state multiple times and it always involves being screened by some variation of the police and Secret Service, including occasional pat-downs and bomb dogs. Be smart and leave things like the Leatherman at home.
Not having a press contact and issuing credentials online is a little weird...I'd definitely look further into it and see if you can find someone with the authority to confirm your access, rather than just assuming that the lack of a denial equals approval and showing up....Show more →
Thanks for the reply. I really do appreciate it.
I finally got in touch with someone at the local campaign office. Unfortunately, it was a volunteer and they were unsure about the answer to my question. They took my information down and will be passing it on to a paid staff member to contact me. As you can imagine, I'm not holding my breath.
The doors don't open until 8:00PM tomorrow so I'm planning on getting there around 4:00-5:00 to try and make sure everything is in order.
Here's the web page for the credential request, I found it a little odd myself. I guess we'll see how things go.
The credentials were not distributed until you arrived at the event, none were given out beforehand. They had a separate media entrance that we were able to use and carry our equipment through.
xjohnx wrote:
The credentials were not distributed until you arrived at the event, none were given out beforehand. They had a separate media entrance that we were able to use and carry our equipment through.
How was the event? How did you know beforehand whether or not you were going to receive a credential?
mdude85 wrote:
How was the event? How did you know beforehand whether or not you were going to receive a credential?
The event ran fairly smoothly.
As far as knowing about the credentials, the way the Obama campaign has it set up is that you're granted credentials unless you hear otherwise. It's the exact opposite of how I'm used to handling credentials. I usually operate under the assumption that I won't have credentials until I have received written confirmation.
xjohnx wrote:
As far as knowing about the credentials, the way the Obama campaign has it set up is that you're granted credentials unless you hear otherwise. It's the exact opposite of how I'm used to handling credentials. I usually operate under the assumption that I won't have credentials until I have received written confirmation.
I do agree, that is fairly odd! I guess they don't want to seem "restrictive".
mdude85 wrote:
I don't understand. Have you received your credentials yet? If not, then you will not be allowed into the event.
Every event I've ever worked or shot handed credentials out at the event, not in advance. For music and sports they were waiting at the "will call" window or a separate press entrance, for political stuff they'd be waiting at a separate production/service/delivery entrance with security personnel. If I've ever received them in advance, it was by a matter of hours and only because I'd met up with a PR or production contact early offsite.
My experience has been similar to Simon's. Political rallies are very fluid events. The schedule can change on very short notice. It is not unusual for a rally to be postponed, cancelled, moved or rescheduled just hours before it was to begin. That is why they rarely issue credentials in advance. Most campaigns are very liberal with press credentials as long as you can show you work for a bona fide media outlet and have proper ID.
same here. ive shot with the governor, nascar, pro sports teams etc. and i had to go through a separate entrance to pick up my media pass. ive never got a pass beforehand.
Yep, I think the difference between this event and past events that I have covered has been the assumption of acceptance. With every sporting event that I have covered I had a letter confirming that my credential request had been approved. In this case, we were left to assume that they were approved unless we heard otherwise.
shatterkiss wrote:
Every event I've ever worked or shot handed credentials out at the event, not in advance. For music and sports they were waiting at the "will call" window or a separate press entrance, for political stuff they'd be waiting at a separate production/service/delivery entrance with security personnel. If I've ever received them in advance, it was by a matter of hours and only because I'd met up with a PR or production contact early offsite.
I was referring more to receiving a notice that your credentials would be made available to you, not actually physically receiving the credentials beforehand (when I shot for the NCAA I received credentials beforehand, but at other events, such as concerts, I have received credentials at the event). I just found it a little odd for an event to allow one to submit a request for credentials and then the photographer would have to show up with all his gear, hoping that a credential would be available to him without any sort of confirmation from the media coordinators (especially on the Obama website where it makes no mention what fraction of requests are honored). I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty nervous about going into a situation like that.
