By: Joe Strupp Photographer Chuck Kennedy got the idea of placing a camera at the foot of the presidential swearing-in podium when he was at the second George W. Bush inaugural, in 2005.
Nearly four years later, on Election Night 2008, the McClatchy-Tribune photographer went into action, pitching the idea to Photo Editor George Bridges and seeking two important things: the technology to do it, and a way to navigate the layers of approval.
"I shopped around a one-page proposal," said Kennedy, 46, who has covered inaugurations back to 1985. "They were intrigued." The "they" included the Senate Press Gallery, the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremony, and the incoming Obama Administration. After two months of lobbying, Kennedy and Bridges got the nod.
They used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and fashioned a soundproof case for it out of a Pelican case. A week before the inauguration, the pair ran an Ethernet line from the podium area under the stage to his position on a high platform in front of the Capitol. Kennedy would snap the photos remotely, and the camera could send the digital images directly to McClatchy's D.C. bureau.
On Inauguration Day, Kennedy said he awoke at 4 a.m., having slept in a McClatchy office in one of the Senate office buildings, and installed the camera at the base of the podium.
The resulting images were distributed to all McClatchy and Tribune news- papers, while also being used as pool photos. Bridges said at least 100 papers ran one family image (at left) on Page One, and more than 1,000 others used it in some form. "We can do it at big events where we can't normally get images out quickly," he said of the camera's future use. "It all depends on access."
As for Kennedy, he said he couldn't fully enjoy the assignment until it was completed: "You never actually believe it until it is done."
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here