shootingshooting

I returned from my trip D.C. on Wednesday but have been unable to update until now, due mostly to my desire to sit on the couch rather than be productive. It was an exhausting trip, but I can't say I regret it. I was so busy that I didn't have any time at all to shoot with my own camera, but I was able to get a few shots.

We stayed at the Westin Alexandria. It was a few blocks away from the King St. Metro Station, which made it relatively convenient. My room was pretty nice. I particularly enjoyed the king sized bed wrapped in Egyptian cotton and the fancy shower heads. I think J-Lo or Beyonce or some other A-list star that I don't care about was there. A Rolls Phantom was parked out front, and there was extensive personal security around that included a man in a suit and reflective sunglasses and IFB standing at ready outside of the elevators in the lobby.

Our truck was parked surprisingly close to everything. It was crammed onto Madison with a ton of other satellite trucks from across the eastern seaboard. It was an absolute circus, but we were parked more-or-less on the mall. I wasn't fortunate enough to be near the truck during the swearing in, but it was still pretty cool to see the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into such a monumental event.

On Monday, the day before the inauguration ceremony (and MLK's birthday), people were constantly at the mall. The outside edges of the mall were lined with thousands of portajohns. I think over 5,000 of these plastic restrooms were there.

Taking advantage of the millions of tourists flooding the streets of D.C. were the street vendors. They were everywhere. Even several blocks away from the mall they could still be seen lining the sidewalk. It was incredible. They sold everything, from the tradition buttons and t-shirts to random things like Obama sock puppets and watches. Unfortunately I didn't have time to shoot much, because I'd have liked to spend more time shooting the interesting array of people moving Obama schwag.

I worked with Johnelle Johnson, a reporter from our station in Charlotte. She was 7 months pregnant, but that didn't stop her from walking around D.C. for 3 days. On Monday, we walked the length of the mall to the Rayburn house to interview a congressman from North Carolina, as well as find a few people from North Carolina to talk to. This second part proved to be rather easy. The people found us, actually. They'd see the News 14 logo on my camera or her microphone flag and come up and talk to us. From there all we had to do was position them in front of the camera and roll.
On Tuesday, while everyone was enjoying the swearing in ceremony, Johnelle and I were near the convention center talking to some of Charlotte's finest, who were invited to help with security at the balls taking place.

Tuesday morning's metro ride was out of control. There were so many people crammed into every car that it was impossible to move. People were even unable to lift there arms up to grab a railing or bar, so a majority of the commuters relied on the pressure of everyone leaning on each other for support. Because Johnelle was 7 months pregnant, I had to help keep this little old man off of her stomach. He and his wife had crammed themselves on into the last inches of available space. I told him to hold onto the strap of my bag to avoid leaning on her, since he had nothing else to hold. I was very glad to be off that train.

After talking with the cops near the convention center, we tried to make it back to the truck several blocks away to cut our package. The streets were blocked by police and they were not letting ANYONE through. Even our media credentials and my load of camera gear wouldn't get us past the roadblock. We had no other option but to return to the hotel and come back later after the mall had cleared and the roadblocks opened. This is the corner I was standing at as the words "Congratulations Mr. President" were said. The streets erupted.

The ride back into the city was rather peaceful. Apparently everyone was too busy trying to get out of the city. No one really had any business going into the city after the ceremony except us it would seem.

After going back to the hotel and actually having a chance to eat lunch (Monday we worked from 10am-2am and didn't even have a chance to eat), we made our way toward the truck. This is where were experienced the L'Enfant Plaza debacle. We took the metro to this station since we were told it was the closes to the mall that was open at the time. There was a line to get out of the station that we stood in for at least half an hour. This was because it was so crowded outside that people leaving had to do so in a single file line.
We were shocked when we turned the corner and saw the doors leading outside. There were people pressed up against the glass. The doors were closed and the crowd outside surged. Along the walls there were injured people being tended to by FBI and other law enforcement agents. Most of them were older people who had fallen in the rush to get outside.
When we got outside, everyone leaving was forced to creep along the wall to the right in a line. Aside from the people directly up against the wall, everyone else was trying to get into the metro. The mass migration of people out of the areas surrounding the mall caused on of the biggest fiascoes I have ever seen.

Upon reaching the end of the metro-crazed mob, Johnelle and I had the task of making our way a few blocks north to the truck. The city, whose streets were lined with trash and air filled with the sounds of sirens, resembled the set of a post-apocalyptic thriller. The weather was cold and windy, the sky was gray, scattered groups of huddled people walked along, and emergency sirens sounded from every direction. It was pretty unreal.

That afternoon, the inaugural parade took place down Pennsylvania Avenue. This group of kids watched from afar.