BAGnewsNotes

Our Man In Pennsylvania - Inside and Outside Two Rallies

Here's Alan Chin's finest, shot Tuesday at two different rallies, the McCain/Palin affair in Hershey and Palin's appearance in Shippensburg. (If you use the double-right arrow, you can page through at your own pace.)

Alan says that the "praying" gesture lasted at least ten minutes. (I was wondering if those were state of Alaska earrings?)

Regarding the McCain shot (#7), Chin says McCain is visibly cranky and impatient -- much worse than when he shot him in New Hampshire. Chin says it's hard to imagine why McCain putting himself through this -- especially having to pander to these obviously extreme right-wing crowds.

On shot #9, his remark was: "Could you imagine someone at an Obama rally holding up this kind of sign?"

Alan found it really disturbing (in #10 and 11 -- the signs on the cars) that people would go to that trouble.

The last shot, #12, reads "Ship Happens." The t-shirt was a gift from local university. I can't speak for the hockey stick. ...By the way, the designer duds are long gone.

I'm definitely curious about your thoughts -- and questions. Alan should be available today to participate in the thread. Overall though, these photos make me agree even more that McCain, as Chin remarked, has really "sold his soul to the devil."

(images © Alan Chin. Hershey/Shippensburg, PA, Oct. 28, 2008)

Our Man In Pennsylvania

Many of you have written and forwarded snapshots from Obama rallies, making particular note of the energy, and in the case of the very large outdoor gatherings, the sense of joy and calm. I'm awed, but not an ounce surprised by the grand canyon-like gap between these personal reports and the experience of looking at similar images through the intensely-amped and all too controversy- or just poll-obsessed media sphere. It's like zen meets crystal meth.

It's because of the difference I'm glad to have this group of photos Alan Chin shot yesterday and last night in Pittsburgh.

I see someone who has brilliantly transcended the cheap tarring of the "celebrity" tag.

I see someone more ready for us than we are for him given how Bush's despotic rule has been mainlining cynicism directly into America's veins.

I see someone who is highly confident but not at all over-confident.

I someone who, in his expression, seems to reflect the steep challenge ahead far more than the electoral task at hand.

What I particularly see -- although the white-corporate media hasn't been all that interested -- is an intense pride welling up in so many African-Americans, young and old.

(images © Alan Chin. Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 27, 2008)

news photos, Obama, Obama campaign break, Obama election, photography, photojournalism, politics

The Latest From Alan Chin: Allentown, PA.

In spending part of the election's final days capturing the atmosphere, Alan passed on this single photo of a campaign volunteer.

Maybe it's the mood from the rain, or because it's Sunday and I have the time, but I just keep spending more time with this shot. (If you click, you can see it even larger.) A few things I like are the little ball on top of the antennae, and the way it lines up with the person behind the truck, and then the distant smokestack.

I like the way this man's jacket and pants hang like they do, and I like the way he holds the sign. It seems to reflect Team Obama's calmly methodical nature as it approaches the end game -- especially in territory where conventional wisdom tends to question Obama's appeal.

(image: © Alan Chin. October 2008. Allentown, PA.)