Hey guys.


As some of you may know, Barack Obama had a campaign stop at the Target Center in Minneapolis yesterday.

Media got there about 11-11:30 so we could bring our gear in for the sweep. The doors opened at 1:30 and Barack stepped on stage at 4:17 (according to my camera). The national media was there, along with a large amount of local media. MTV Minnesota was there, along with a student from Hamline. Stacy Bengs from the Minnesota Daily was there. Jim Mone from the AP. Renee Jones-Schneider and Brian Peterson from the Star Tribune. All the local TV channels were there. NBC's network camera was there and was right behind where I was sitting for a while.

In addition, quite a few smaller outlets were there. I met a woman who runs a political blog about Minnesota's First Congressional District (http://www.bluestemprairie.com/), Sally, I want to say here name was. I also met David Bonello, a photographer from Cambridge, MN who runs a health-related web site. (Minnesota Wellness Publications, Inc. is a non profit organization dedicated to creating the most useful, understandable, and informative information concerning your health and wholeness. http://mnwelldir.org/) He was kind enough to let me shoot off a few frames with his 1D Mk. II and 24-105. In return, I shot a few frames for him, as he couldn't get high enough to shoot Barack.

Some of the event seems well organized, but some the directions were not communicated to the media very well. For instance, there were open riser spaces, but organizers said that they needed them clear and many still photogs had to shoot from the floor over the heads of people and couldn't get good shots, or few good ones, as was the case with David above. Luckily, I was able to sit at the very front of the risers and I got some really great shots.

Without further ado:

1.
Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak invites audience members to hand him their cell phones so that he may talk to the person on the other end of the line.

#9 and #11 are really good shots of Obama. and I really like that mobile phone shot...

Regards, Nathan

Beautiful shots!!
#9 and #11 were the kind of shots that I wanted to take but I didn't bring a long lens and decided to focus on the scale of the event. These are very well done!

Here are my shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottstillman/2237682505/

great shots.

I covered a rally here in Cleveland last february. It was a day after I received my citizenship! That made it more special.

Here's my slideshow

I don't know about you, but I felt like I was part of history in the making. It was a neat experience because I never attended a rally before. I'll be covering the CNN debate here in Ohio and if/when Barack makes any stops in and around Cleveland and Columbus.

great shots,
ivor

# 9 - It captures I think the essence of barack's campaign.
A gaze towards a goal that is higher than what exists today and ahead of him..

Truly excellent coverage.

Great shots! Caleb! Which lens did you use?

I know this is off-topic (and perhaps not the place for a camera forum, but oh well) but I have attended quite a few political rallies (I live near DC) and Obama's rally's are the most energetic rally's I have witnessed since Reagan.

Nice work Caleb. #11 is the money shot.

Good job on these. And so far nobody has changed the subject from photography to politics. Such restraint!
I think your compositions are very well done.

Excellent coverage.

I wonder if Barack will ever grow into those ears?

Rich

Great shots of the guy I'm voting for. Thanks for sharing.

Ivor Karabatko wrote:
great shots.

I covered a rally here in Cleveland last february. It was a day after I received my citizenship! That made it more special.

Here's my slideshow

I don't know about you, but I felt like I was part of history in the making. It was a neat experience because I never attended a rally before. I'll be covering the CNN debate here in Ohio and if/when Barack makes any stops in and around Cleveland and Columbus.

great shots,
ivor

Congratulations on your citizenship!

J

Nathan, underbyte, Ivor, Dan, Paul, Dave, Jim, Rick, Baldur:
Thanks for the kind words.

Mark: The rally was quite energetic. Clinton's was about the same, but it was a smaller space.

I used a variety of lens for this event. Mostly it was an 85 1.8 and a 75-300 4-5.6. I also used a 35 2.0 and a 24-105 IS.