"YES WE CAN" Sorry, comments are closed. Too many nut jobs leaving absurd comments on it.
Thanks for the outpouring of support on this photo! I had fun taking all of them.
I do request that long comments and cut/paste comments containing President Obama's speeches not be posted as a comment to this photo. Love it, but you can go here to read his inaugural address.
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Taken at the Barack Obama rally in Pueblo, CO.
There were a few thousand people today in Pueblo to hear Senator Obama speak just a few days before the election.
I cried. Yes, I did.
I've been to thousands of rallies. I've been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. I've shaken hands and spoken with lots of players in this game - Albright, Richardson, Reno, Salazar, Kucinich.
And all that stuff usually bores the hell out of me. The last time I was excited about a politcal campaign was when Bill Clinton won the election way back in 1992. We poured into Castro Street in San Francisco, 10s of 1000s of us, and celebrated - danced, partied, kissed. I was part of the Colorado 13 -- 13 hold-out Kucinich delegates who refused to vote for Kerry at the 2004 DNC, but swore to get him voted into the White House anyway -- anything but Bush. I got myself tear-gassed in 2003 at an anti-war rally -- the only rally in the US held that day in which the cops used tear gas...when millions across the country protested the Iraq War.
But I never cried.
I usually laughed, screamed, spoke out, marched, and swore...
..until today. Today, as soon as Michelle finished her pep talk and introduced her husband, I suddenly looked through my viewfinder and cried.
I voted already. I voted for Barack Obama. (zyrcster)
"the dog, the rain, the rainbow" While I was outside in the rain with the stopped traffic shooting the rainbow, Abby stayed in the van steaming up the windows.
So, no, no photoshop is involved here. I cropped it, using Lightroom. But this is pretty much the way I saw things that day. Just a lucky shot, I think. :)
#2 woooo (zyrcster)
"Dec 2008 Conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus" This is the "frowny" face of the Dec 2008 conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus, as seen around 5:30pm in Colorado.
OK, so I pretty much jumped off the porch without my tripod (which is broken anyway), set the ISO to 1600 (sure to guarantee noise!) and leaned against a fence to get these. Not the best astral photography, but a nifty keepsake anyway.
#1 - Thanks! (zyrcster)
"US 24 - Hartsel, Colorado" I'll upload the rest tomorrow, but this one summed up the day for me. Exposure issues (hey -- I like the blown out sky here, OK?), the long, empty road, my favorite state to road trip in, and my good Flickr friends. We saw it all and had a ball.
More tomorrow, but for now, please enjoy the highway that I love, US 24 West.
#140! sweet. :) (zyrcster)
"Hawk Redux" Today at Red Rocks, Abby and I found another Red Tailed Hawk sitting in a tree. Abby flushed it off its perch, though, and I got this neat shot. (zyrcster)
"husband and wife" I attended the final Colorado campaign stop that Barack Obama made on 01 Nov 2008, a few days prior to the election. A few thousand people attended this rally in Pueblo, CO, to hear Senator Obama speak.
I actually cried taking this photograph.
I've been to thousands of political rallies. I've been a delegate, a campaign worker, a political activist. I've shaken hands with lots of players in this game. Politics doesn't usually get to me anymore. I have laughed, screamed, spoken out, marched, or swore... but never cried until that day in Pueblo. When Michelle Obama finished her pep talk and introduced her husband, I looked through my camera's viewfinder and cried.
This photograph is special because it captures a personal moment between husband and wife, in front of a great public, and conveys an emotion we don't normally see.
I cried over the personal sacrifice of this couple in making this run for the highest office of our nation. But I also cried because their hope and courage revived in me what led me into politics all those years, rallies, and campaigns ago: belief in the audacity of hope to change our circumstances. I actually believe in this man and in his campaign, in his drive to bring a populist movement to life.
This photo, and others I took that day at the rally, received an incredible response when I posted them to my Flickr account. Another photo in this series received over 10,000 views within a week of it being posted, with encouragement and support for Obama from people worldwide. What is historical about this series of photos is that an average citizen can cover an event and post it to the internet, reaching far flung people and encouraging a new sort of equality. My photos share an equal footing and equal exposure with large media outlets thanks to the internet. But there is also a personal component to that equality; my friends and acquaintances are better able to "feel like they were there" by virtue of knowing me. That in itself is historical, whether or not this particular photograph ever attains historical notoriety.
But I do believe this photo has historical merit because it shows a personal yet public moment from the last days of a long and arduous campaign. It exhibits love, which may seem an odd thing to convey in a political campaign, but actually may be the driving force behind why any politician, activist, or photographer does what they do.
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Taken at the Barack Obama rally in Pueblo, CO. (zyrcster)
"Cheyenne Mountain and Balloons" 40 :)
The mountain in the background is Cheyenne Mountain, the home of Norad/NORTHCOM. The lake is in Memorial Park, downtown Colorado Springs, CO. This is the annual Balloon Classic here. A fun morning out! (zyrcster)