January 21, 2009
Our Man At The Parade/Inauguration Day 2009
What I like about Matt Lutton’s imagery, besides its serendipity, is how it gets beneath the cable news inauguration gloss that we are “all one.” These scenes reflect the joy and the spectical of the inauguration, but they do so without skimming over the fact that white and African-American culture is quite separate and distinct, and that life on the Washington streets, even on the most momentous of days, can still be gritty.
Photos taken along the parade route on Barack Obama’s inauguration day, January 20, 2009. © Matt Lutton for BAGnewsNotes.
5 Comments Leave a comment
marc sobel said:
Is that Rachael Maddow in 9 ? She looks just like she does no TV. Grinning like a maniac at the absurdity of life.
Reece Chenault said:
That shot of Maddow made me laugh out loud.
DC, for me, has always held this place of fantasy. I’ve lived in the MD area for a good while, yet when I get into the middle of town I suddenly feel all strange, like I’m standing on a giant van de Graff generator. What is it about this city that almost Requires this level of energy and excitement?
Susan Abe said:
Rachel in #9 is the accent note that drives home the fact that in 13 photos jam-packed with faces, on what was widely reported as a day of great happiness, we see a total of two smiles. (The other one I saw is the man with the flags in #7.)
zzyzx said:
I’m not so sure the black and white worlds are so separate these days. At least not like say, forty years ago. We all work in integrated work places, most schools are integrated. The young folks just don’t seem to be that bothered, nor even aware, of colors.
For a different view of the crowd by someone who was in the middle of it, see The Rude Pundit’s commentary today.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
buskertype said:
the picture of the lady behind a window sipping out of a glass is brutal.