One of the main reasons I  love what I do for a living is the experiences I encounter and often meeting or witnessing the people  involved in those moments.

Like so many other  times in my career I had the opportunity to witness history in a 29-hour period starting on August 27 in my hometown of Denver Colorado.

I was called upon to photograph Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with the staff of Invesco Field at Mile High where the presidential candidate was to give his acceptance speech to the party’s delegation  the following evening.

Obama had arrived in Denver earlier that night from a Midwest campaign swing. After a surprise visit to the DNC at the Pepsi Center near downtown the senator and his entourage were scheduled to visit the stadium. He was to get a first hand look at the venue and prepare a sound check for his speech. A member of  Obama’s advance team  invited the staff  who helped stage the venue to meet Obama and pose for a group photo as a keepsake of the historical occasion.

Around 9 p.m. under twilight and a darkened stadium, off in the distance at the back of the stage a silhouette of a familiar figure appeared and sauntered toward the center of the raised platform. After a brief scan of the stadium and several waves and hellos to workers below, Barack headed toward the waiting group of staffers. He greeted each and everyone of them with a large smile and a hand shake followed by a compliment of a job well done or a thank you. The group quickly assembled on the steps leading to the podium and I directed the senator to the center of the group. Within I took a deep breath, held everyone’s attention and fired off five “official frames” and three grab shots before the senator bid farewell and escorted off the field by a large group of dark suits.

Barack Obama poses with the Invesco crew

The morning of the 28th I reported back to the stadium for a secret service security check at 7:30 a.m. After being cleared and settled into my work space for the day, I had until approximately 7 p.m. to roam the stadium finding good photographic angles and feature photos that would compliment my main assignment of photographing Obama’s acceptance speech and stadium overalls of the extravaganza.

As with most large events today there is a lot of waiting and killing time prior to the spectacle. By mid afternoon I was ready to get to work after spending most of the day to that point chatting with secret service agents, stadium staff and checking on emails.

People had been filtering into the stadium all afternoon but around 4 p.m. there was a visible and audible change to the stadium. It began to have a sports venue atmosphere with folks milling about, chanting their favorite slogans or carrying homemade signs or posters decked out in Obama/Biden attire.

For the next couple of hours I entertained myself photographing the crowds and the presenters on stage. As the countdown for Obama’s arrival approached,  the attention throughout the stadium began to focus more directly to center stage and orchestrated chants were more prevalent in between speeches and entertainers.

Obama greeting the delegation at Invesco Field in Denver

Shortly after 7 p.m. when the candidate came forward the stadium erupted in a crescendo similar to the final goal of the Stanley Cup or a grand slam in the World Series.

As the speech was delivered, the crowd teetered between spellbound and euphoria. One moment you practically could hear a pin drop and another you thought your head was going to explode.

I was working two cameras. One telephoto focused on the podium and the other working the crowds and the stadium itself. I tried to listen to the delivery as I focused on my subject matter but I knew my main objective was to capture the moments for history.

Ironically, one hundred years earlier the Democratic convention was also held in Denver. Unfortunately I won’t be around to document the one a hundred years from now.

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