Barack Obama!

Alright, so I know this is a photography blog and NOT a politics blog, so I'll try not to go TOO crazy, but I do love politics, or at least the idea of them. I was one of those people growing up who just didn't care at all, didn't try to know anything, but then I got to college and majored in sociology and realized how much our government affects every single aspect of our lives, and then it just became something that I felt was necessary to know about and be involved in.

So imagine my utter joy when I was able to snag tickets to see Barack Obama talk at Plainfield High School, which is my alma mater! Seeing the potential president of the United States speak in your high school gym is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am SO glad I got to go.

You guys, I loved it. Obviously. But I won't tell you how to vote, but I will reiterate that it's important TO vote. So get on that, would you? :)

Okay, you've been tortured long enough. On to the pictures. These were taken with my malfunctioning camera before I returned it (so in manual mode), and they looked best in black and white but I got kind of bored with that so you'll probably notice some tone changes (sepia, blue to varying degrees)--just so you know that you're not going insane. I always like to know that.

Here's The Man (but let's not damn him, what do you say?) when he first came out. I made this shot sepia because it looks so classically presidential, and I don't think you can really go buck wild with presidential candidates (unless they're Bill Clinton--woo! Off-color!). But my favorite thing about this pic is the hand waving back to him in the foreground--it just makes me feel connected to the scene.

Even though a lot of these pictures that I picked out showed him smiling, Barack really didn't smile a WHOLE lot, since he was pretty serious about answering questions from the audience, and let's face it--war isn't really a topic to smile about, no matter who you are.

This one looks like he's looking at me, but if you zoom it, he's not.

Oh, what's this? Sarah finally turned her camera vertical? Yeah, that's right, but cut me some slack! We were CRAMMED in there. Still, we had incredible seats. And I LOVED this picture--it looks so presidential.

And this is just a nice one to end on. :) He was smiling at a man in the audience who had a question but prefaced it by telling Barack that his son was a straight-A student who had Barack's book and basically wanted to be him. Who wouldn't smile at that?

That's it for me until at least early next week. I'll be out of town this weekend, so if you need to get in touch with me and it takes me an extra day or two to get back with you, please be patient! I promise I won't forget about you. :)