The Two Day "Chelsea Clinton Wedding Watch..." July 2010

Former President Bill Clinton leaves Gigi Trattoria after lunching in Rhinebeck, NY on Friday, July 30, 2010. His daughter Chelsea Clinton will marry her longtime boyfriend, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky at a private estate on Saturday. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

*(Playing it all backward, if you will...): Two full days of prowling around the quaint Hudson Valley Village of Rhinebeck followed my three days of baseball coverage earlier in the week. This assignment would require the ongoing search of celebrities, and the beautiful people on the wedding guest list possibly moving about town on Friday and Saturday. The work weeks don't usually come together like this last one that ended July on Saturday for me. First and foremost was the coverage of Chelsea Clinton's Wedding or at least spending two full days in the picturesque Village of Rhinebeck, NY along the Hudson River to cover what would eventually become tiring all-day stakeouts. Just like the old days on celebrity watch on the streets down in Manhattan at all hours of the day. It's all a big cat & mouse game that can go on for hours, if not days, regardless of the weather, location, or other particulars out of my control. That's why I was silently dreading the assignment on Friday to be in the village the day before the former First Daughter's wedding day on Saturday. Fortunately I was familiar with the village and we'd even done a fluff story last week talking to business owners and locals to sort of set the tone of Rhinebeck, which was strategically becoming overrun with both print and broadcast media types, including the morning talk shows and their production crews such as CNN's Susan Candiotti doing a standup (below - note the shipping box she's standing on and the mic stand for her notes & Blackberry), wire service and newspaper photographers including quite a few of my old colleagues up from NYC, and even a few members of the international press were spotted roaming the streets too. You can see why I was sort of dreading it all - in the beginning on the drive up Friday morning. My attitude changed dramatically around lunchtime Friday when it was confirmed that former President Bill Clinton was lunching in a chic trattoria in the center of town. (I'd missed his brief block long walk to the eatery though, as I was editing and transmitting in a coffee shop to move my earlier "scene setter" images I'd already shot that morning.) When it was announced by a helpful AP reporter that "Bill Clinton is having lunch around the corner...!" a colleague of mine and I had to abruptly close our laptops, pack up and scramble down the street and around the corner for what would become a nearly two hour wait outside the restaurant. Instead of the familiar slide shows, I'll just post a few more of my favorite images here from Friday and Saturday on the "Chelsea Wedding Watch..." You can view the paper's Chelsea web page on their site HERE which includes slide shows and even a few brief video clips I shot on the Canon 5D - MKII. ~cg.

Bridesmaids for Chelsea Clinton's wedding wait to board a mini-bus on the grounds of the Delamater Inn & Conference Center in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday morning, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Makeup artist John Jones IV (left) applies makeup to model Megan Martino (right) in the FACE Stockholm Salon in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Former Secretary of State and UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright (center) greets well wishers after lunching in Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Fashion designer Vera Wang tries to avoid photographers and news crews after lunching in Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. Chelsea Clinton will wear a Vera Wang wedding gown when she weds her longtime boyfriend, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky at a private estate Saturday evening. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Press photographers and the general public strain to get a glimpse of Chelsea Clinton's wedding guests at the Delamater Inn & Conference Center in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Press photographers working as they photograph Chelsea Clinton's wedding guests leaving the Delamater Inn & Conference Center in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Wedding guests wait to board mini-buses on the grounds of the Delamater Inn & Conference Center prior to Chelsea Clinton's wedding in Rhinebeck, NY on Saturday, July 31, 2010. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

"All the President's Men..." June•2010

*Redford & Hoffman in the acclaimed 1976 Academy Award winning film by the same name...? No, not those two. In my case it's been more like Presidents Clinton, Bush (Sr. & Jr.), Obama, and others including VP Cheney, Hillary, Eric Holder (current AG), Gates (current Sec. of Defense), as well as various other commanding generals and high ranking government officials from Washington, who I've photographed in my career. Following General David Petraeus last week here in the area at two separate events, got me thinking about some of that coverage and the resulting images. Below is a slideshow highlighting some of those favorites from the past few years... ~cg.

General David H. Petraeus listens to Cornwall High School Principal Dr. Frank Sheboy's introduction during the school's 56th. Annual Commencement in Cornwall, NY on Friday, June 25, 2010. Gen. Petraeus, a Cornwall High School Class of 1970 alum, was the keynote speaker. Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

*Use the arrow at the bottom left of the player or click the image to start the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the credits button at lower right of the player. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button. There is no audio track with this presentation.

"Big - Dogs..." West Point Graduation Day. 22•May•10

President Barack Obama pauses onstage as he watches cadets approach the dais in Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy for their 2010 Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony in West Point, NY on Saturday, May 22, 2010. President Obama delivered the commencement address as 1,002 cadets received their diplomas and were commissioned as 2nd. Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

7:15AM. Checking my remote Canon 1D camera with a 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4 tele-extender on the center TV platform prior to the United States Military Academy's 2010 Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony at Michie Stadium in West Point, NY on Saturday, May 22, 2010. President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address as 1,002 cadets received their diplomas and were commissioned as 2nd. Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. (Photograph by Danny Wild/USMA)

Yesterday was the fourth Army graduation I've covered here during my four years at this newspaper. "Four-for-Four..." I guess you could say. Even though President Obama was to deliver the commencement address for this year's graduating class (which topped 1,000 cadets) there was so much preparation I'd gone through in the last month or so, I was ready to step up to any unforeseen challenges that might present themselves. The last two weeks or so got to be a little nerve racking for members of the working press, particularly for still photographers and video guys, as the White House press people and "the Service" were going to be handling all logistics in assigning locations, field access during the ceremony, the whole bit. Up until Thursday and even Friday, the latest word from my colleagues in the West Point pubic affairs office was that we'd be "locked down" in position and there'd be no "roaming" for photographers. That nearly concrete rumor could've easily dampened my enthusiasm in wanting to cover this year's ceremony. But from the first day back in mid - April or so when the WH announced that POTUS (Obama) would be delivering the commencement address, I began the planning stages of covering this assignment in my mind & just as important - in my mind's eye, regardless of any restrictions that might be imposed, and of course my enthusiasm quietly grew. The first hurdle to overcome would be long glass. I began a series of email correspondence with the good folks in the Bay Area at BorrowLenses.com
Earlier post on corresponding with BorrowLenses two weeks ago here. I initially set out to rent a 400mm f/2.8AF for the assignment, as I knew I could easily add the 1.4x tele-extender or the 2x if needed, especially if I was going to be stuck on the risers for mostly podium and stage area images. I knew instinctively that this day would call for something longer than our pool 300mm in the office. It's a great lens and regular readers of this blog already know how comfortable I am with that lens; but for this day, I'd be running with the "big - dogs" and I certainly didn't want to get 'left on the porch', so to speak. Earlier in my career, I'd regularly worked with a 400mm in the NYC pro sports beat, and even used a colleague's 400mm on this very field to cover an Army football game 2 seasons ago. I am fully aware of the physical demands alone of just maneuvering a monster piece of glass like that around for an extended assignment. Due to scheduling and availability of their 400mm, I made the decision to have a monstrous 600mm f/4 (at left) shipped here. Going with this rental lens served additional options for me professionally. Obviously it's an incredible piece of equipment to have available for such an assignment, but also once I'd placed the order and began tracking it's delivery via the Fed-Ex site, I was reminded again that I'd become a valuable customer with a reliable & reputable vendor, mostly catering to professionals. Throughout my career, I've realized that it's all part of the process of anticipating & recognizing certain obstacles, and doing whatever it takes on various levels to put yourself in the right position, both mentally & of course physically for making good images. It certainly isn't everyday that you'd need to employ such equipment to cover the day to day assignments we shoot, but when an event like this demands doing things the right way, I'm all over it. It was such a rewarding feeling knowing that I'd made the right decision for this rental. With all the expected challenges looming and my experience in covering the three previous USMA graduations, as well as POTUS at West Point only six months ago, I knew I had to step it up a notch or two and add this super telephoto. Anytime you're presented with the opportunity to photograph a sitting President, I still believe you should have the professional wherewithal to step it up another level, packing your best "A-game" for the day. These are images that will have "legs" (meaning reuse in print & the web) for a long time in our archive, and of course out here in the blog-o-sphere / portfolio / lecture circuit / classroom, etc. for me.
Looking back & playing it all forward if you will, one realizes again that this is a business and it's also about building personal relationships at a lot of different levels, as the people you work with will go out of their way to help you achieve the kind of imagery you're trying to accomplish - if you're a true professional - that's extremely important in completing an assignment on this level. I made sure to bring all the appropriate remote gear to install two remote cameras, regardless of what the rumor mill was quoted all week - just in case I got permission down on the field at 7AM, just as I had for two previous graduations where I'd installed remotes. As one public affairs administrator quietly told me, "See if you can work your magic to set up your remotes..." And this while I was being escorted to the press risers on the field by his military boss, an Army Lt. Colonel no less. Bringing printouts from last year's low-angle remote rig & sample images to illustrate my intentions didn't hurt either. Thanks again guys.
Oh yea, here's a tightly edited take of graduation day. "Woof!" ~cg.
*Use the arrow at the bottom left of the player or click the image to start the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the credits button at lower right of the player. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button. There is no audio track with this presentation.)

"POTUS..." West Point, NY 1 Dec. 09

President Barack Obama enters Eisenhower Hall to deliver his national address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY on Tuesday, December 1, 2009. President Obama called for an additional 30,000 troops be sent to Afghanistan. Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

President Obama. There is something so spectacularly special about drawing the assignment to photograph a sitting President of the United States. (POTUS) This would be the fourth President I'd have the opportunity to photograph. For a lot of obvious reasons I was thrilled for the last week or so, when the announcement was made that he'd address the 4,000+ cadets and the nation at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Honored. Pumped. Much, much more than mere excitement.

*"This assignment was for my parents, who I knew were watching... For my family, friends and colleagues who I knew were quietly cheering for me too. But it was also for the ancestors who came before us..."

It was for every senior photographer and photo-editor who ever mentored me; giving of their time in reminding me of all the little things you must excel at everyday to get to this point in one's career. Although I didn't make the trip in January to be in Washington, DC for the inauguration - even though I'd felt for the longest time that I should've been there, I held onto some strong feelings the last six months or so that I just might get lucky enough to photograph this new president. Ironically, after arriving 5 hours early to navigate through multiple security checks by "The Service", and their bomb sniffing dogs a few times, that when it was actually time to go to work on the press risers approximately 100' from the stage, I had no butterflies. This was a (serious) work night all around, and it lasted until nearly 3AM by the time I was done uploading a photo gallery to the paper's site. I remember going into "The Zone" about 10 minutes into the President's speech. No distractions, no equipment failures or slip-ups. This was definitely "A-Game" territory for every working photographer in the house this night.
Thank goodness I packed a small metal step-stool, which guaranteed the rope-line images (left) I made from the back row of the risers.
Yea, little things.




Click this link to view a slideshow on the paper's site.

*(Check this one off the career 'bucket-list...')

Thanks for looking and your comments are as always, greatly appreciated. -cg.