Covering a Historic Vote

One thing I think all photojournalists know is that trying to cover any big event as a one-man-band is a lot of work and sometimes a bit of a crap shoot. Nobody can be everywhere at once. And since you can’t, you have to accept the fact that you are going to miss stuff.

So when you cover something as important as a vote on a bill that will be a massive overdue overhaul of the United States healthcare system, one can get a bit anxious.

The weekend D.C. was full of events worth photographing. Friday there was an anti-war event called Funk the War, Saturday there was a larger anti-war protest sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. (Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) and a tea-party protest at the Capitol against the healthcare bill. Then on Sunday came more protests against the healthcare bill as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on the bill as well as a huge immigration reform march in the city.

I decided to pace myself a bit and shoot the ant-war march on Saturday and the healthcare vote on Sunday. I was planning on trying to get to the immigration march, but it was just not going to be manageable.

I arrived at the Capitol at about 11 on Sunday and went straight to the House side to cover the protesters and the Representatives arriving for the debate and voting.

It was the typical screaming and shouting scene that usually surrounds these events. Most of the photos are typical coverage, but there where one or two that I liked the most.

I hung out until a bit after 1:00 and headed to the Senate Press Gallery to transmit images to ZUMA Press.

Then the waiting began.

There was the occasional press conference that needed to be covered as the debating went on in the House chamber and just general wandering around the Capitol looking for a good feature or two.

I have to say it is kind of weird to be able to wander the halls of the center of democracy when there really is not anyone around. Since all of the action was happening on the House side, we had to travel back and fourth from the Photographer’s Gallery on the Senate side to the House. Many times I was making the trip alone, and the beauty of the Capitol building being experienced with only the sound of your own footsteps is quite the experience. As in VERY COOL.

Around 7:00 the debate raged on with about the same intensity as the growling in the photographer’s stomachs. The usual quick food places in the Capitol were closed since it was Sunday, but we were able to get something at one of the House dining rooms. The short handed staff there was great and accommodating. They saved the day.

A television crew watches the historic vote on a monitor outside of the House Chambers.

More waiting ensued as the debating raged on until the vote came somewhere around 11:45 p.m. Even then we had to wait for a couple of more votes before Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Democratic Caucus came into the Rayburn Room to speak to the press.

So after the press conference and the transmitting to ZUMA Press, I walked out of the Capitol at 12:45 a.m. to find that my ride had abandoned me. Damn photographers! Can’t trust any of them! Just kidding, but I am cranky about it.

So while trying to figure out my options, since the last metro option was an hour and a half ago, I didn’t have many. So I called my wife, Jenny, and she came to the rescue. Now that is a real trooper.

About the only good thing about the ride disaster was that I came across a nice image. There was a guy sitting on the back steps of the Capitol with a flag barely hanging on to the pole it was attached to as the wind whipped it around. Apparently he had arrived to the Tea Party protest too late. When he arrived most all had gone. And there he sat, one last remaining dissenter against the historic health care bill that had been passed almost two hours before.

He looked tired. So was I.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 6:32 pm. It is filed under dispatches, On Assignment and tagged with advice, capitol Hill, discussion, dispatches, linkedin, photojournalism, photojournalist, political photography, politics, washington d.c.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.