January 28, 2008 - U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner spoke alongside Governor Linda Lingle at a press conference establishing the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 (at 10mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/3.5, ISO 1600, Tungsten white balance

Every so often, the governor holds press conferences in her office at the state capitol. I’ve always found them to be somewhat entertaining to shoot. Sure, you have a couple of talking heads, or maybe some signatures being scrawled in a deluxe leather-bound folio, or maybe a trophy (if you’re lucky).

For me, it’s the thrill of the hunt. Will I be able to milk this “photo op” for all that it’s worth? Will I come up with something different? Or will I come away with the classic “execution at dawn” people-standing-in-a-row (with only the blindfolds and cigarettes missing) shot?

So I drove down into the dusky loins of the capitol and parked. I was ready. I had an aloha shirt on. This was going to be big. Some sort of “announcement” was going to be made about “energy.” Someone from “Washington” was going to be there.

“Washington?” Did they say “Washington?”

I got off the elevator on the 5th floor and sauntered to the governor’s office. Small rivulets of people were doing the same.

I opened the giant wood door, and was greeted with a waiting room filled with all sorts of people. Suits. Military types. Silky aloha shirts. Slacks. High heels.

It was electric.

Or so I told myself, as I braced for the impending “event.”

People started to fill the governor’s office, which is actually just the room where these press conferences are held. A big table, a giant Seal Of Hawaii dangling behind the podium, flags, a semi-circle of nice leather seats with little “RESERVED” signs on them, a phalanx of television cameras. The room was at capacity. People were hanging from the rafters (well, not really, but it was close).

Some man came out and a hush fell over the crowd. “The governor will be coming out soon,” he announced. Murmurs from the crowd. I looked for a gavel, but didn’t see anything.

Then, a door opened, and people rose to their feet, and in walked Lingle and a couple of other people.

It had begun.

Ted Liu stepped up the mic and started talking.

With the room stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, there really wasn’t any room to move around. I was slightly to the right of the podium, prime for shooting mugs, but it wasn’t conducive to anything else. I usually wander around and look for weird angles, but that wasn’t happening today. I decided on doing the layer gag. Get one person in focus, the other out. Luckily from where I was standing either Lingle or Karsner were standing in position that I could get the two of them in the same frame.

January 28, 2008 - U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner listens as Governor Linda Lingle speaks at a press conference establishing the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 200mm), Manual, 1/320 sec at f/4, ISO 1250, Tungsten white balance

So I milked this idea for a while, then found a little open space off the right behind some cardboard “energy initiative” info graphic sitting on an easel.

From there I could shoot wide and get the whole room, establishing the scene, plus there was another angle where I could employ the running two-for-one-in-the-same-frame gag. Plus, the light was a little moodier from this vantage point.

January 28, 2008 - U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner speaks as Governor Linda Lingle listens at a press conference establishing the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 90mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/4, ISO 1250, Tungsten white balance

With that out of the way I went back to the front to start harvesting mugs. This is an important part of any press conference assignment. Come away with as many mugs as possible. The paper always needs fresh mug shots of people, and sometimes you can get photos of people you wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to shoot. You never know when those will come in handy.

And with that, it was over. Another fun-filled episode in the governor’s office.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under press conferences, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.