Obama Loves Vegas

President Obama chose Las Vegas for the first trip of his second term, and this time it was my turn to be part of the local pool. This basically meant that me and a reporter were carted around with the national press and rode in their fancy vans in the motorcade to and from the airport. Sadly, Obama did not make any special stops on this trip, just the speech on immigration reform at Del Sol High School. He was on the ground in Vegas for less than two hours. It was still fun though. The best part was having a different view when Obama stepped off Air Force One for the presidential wave. I've always been positioned on a riser directly across from the plane. This time I was on the ground, closer to the plane, and there was a nice cloud overhead that had been blocking the sun intermittently all morning. So I decided to go for a wide shot. It's my favorite one of the day.

Airport, Airport, Airport!

I didn't get to shoot any Electric Daisy Carnival last week or the big Pacquiao fight, but I did have three days in a row of assignments at the airport! I'm not complaining though. Sometimes the airport can be just as fun as a drug-fueled dance festival. See if you can match the photo to the assignment:

-Air Force One duty
-Taxis getting busted for long hauling from the airport
-Terminal 3 open house

Photo Bait and President Obama

The president came to town yesterday. Me and another local newspaper photographer were granted access to shoot inside the coveted "buffer zone" during his speech. The buffer is that space on the ground in between the stage and the gates that keep the crowd at bay. This was my first time photographing Obama as the president.  Political events such as these always involve a certain amount of stagecraft. Everything is beautifully arranged to lure us unsuspecting newspaper photographers into taking the photos they want. A carefully placed American flag is commonplace. But I always feel a little bit guilty for taking the bait. A tightly framed photo of Obama looking contemplative and wise with the American flag in the background is exactly want they wanted from me. They granted us access to the buffer zone precisely so we would take photos such as these. This is a campaign year after all. Am I a pawn in their game? Probably. But I still like the photo.