montana photo blog
one frame at a time…
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in the oval office
ok, two things…this post is most likely the worlds longest blog post, don’t worry, most posts will be short and sweet. Second, I’m cheating a bit by starting with this image and post, as it was a few months ago. it was most definitely very cool to be in the oval office with the ryder cup team and yes, whether like him or NOT, the president. this type of opportunity doesn’t come along very often so here is the story behind the photo.
when we arrived we were greeted at the white house gate by all of the dogs and security that one would expect, hope even. Then we were escorted through an entrance guarded by men with god knows what kind of weaponry and into the White House. Just like that we were inside, staring at a hallway filled with portraits of first ladies and china from Abraham Lincoln. WOW. very cool! then the news came that unlike a public tour, i would be unable to shoot during our private tour, whoops…take pictures (NEVER use the word shoot while in or around the white house). So, rolling camera case in tow i walked through the white house in awe of how much looked familiar. it was amazing to be in the rooms and places that you have seen in magazines, books and on the tv. we were taken out onto the balcony that overlooks the south lawn and watched as Marine One landed. Out walked President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They waved to the press below and then looked up to the balcony and gave Captain Azinger and the ryder cup team a big wave and walked off toward the oval office. We were brought back in to finish the tour and then taken to have lunch with several big wigs (nope don’t remember a single name, but i do know there is a starbucks right there!)
Ok, so now your wondering about the photo, wasn’t i there to shoot a pic? honestly, i was thinking the same thing. I was taken to the White house Pressroom where i immediately recognized the logo on the wall. I walked past 6 or 8 reporters everyone would recognize (once again, nope…no names) but i did snag a photo with my iphone so i wouldn’t look like a dork shooting an image of the empty room. Obviously holding your phone up in the air looks far less dorky then shooting with my real camera. my “handler” left me but not before she told me “you’ll have 30-45 seconds so good luck”. she then told to wait until the announcement that the photo op was imminent. What does that even mean?
Wait, did she say 30-45 seconds? Nah, she was just trying to scare me into not messing around and taking 10 minutes to shoot this photo. Just to make sure I was ready for anything I started googling images in the oval office to get a feel for the lighting. Great, backlight…windows…very small…10 people…maybe even florescent lights. WOW, this was interesting now. I set my Nikon D3 to 800 iso, said a silent thank you to the Nikon techs for the low light capabilities on the D3, locked in my 17-50mm and took a deep breath. The bell rang and over the elementary style loudspeaker a voice said “ryder cup team photo op in the oval office meet at door blah blah” I stood up and followed 5 other photogs out the door hoping they were going toward door blah blah. We came to a collective halt in front of a not so secret service man with a don’t go one inch closer look on his face. It was very obvious that I was the odd man out here as all the other photogs knew each other and were staring at me like the new kid in the classroom. After some nervous chatter on my part which im pretty sure was out loud, they started to clue me in on the routine. I felt much better knowing that I was at least prepped with the right lens and being accustomed to rapid image taking (no shooting), I mean Donald Trump once only gave me 3 frames on my hassie before saying, you got it, we are done here. So there we were, standing in the outside hallway next to the oval office, a Scotty dog running on the lawn and secret service watching our every move. Then it happened, the door opened and we were told to go in. I knew I was in for trouble when two of the photogs started shooting as we rushed into the door swat team style and flew into the middle of the room. The team was all set, the president holding the ryder cup and smiling at us. i remember two things. Boo Weekly shouting out “there’s Montana” and smacking a photog in the top of the head , saying “stay down!” (sorry unknown photog) then we were pulled, pushed and shoved out of the oval office and escorted back to the press room.
Yes, one of the most important shots of my career lasted less then 30 seconds, actually 14 seconds from entry to exit to be exact. I fired 8 frames of the group, each very acceptable and this one as good as one can expect from an extraordinary short schedule. Apparently instinct took over as I had actually made 2 changes in settings and all my shots were in focus. Lesson to be learned? Be so familiar with your gear that instinct can take over, always, ALWAYS be prepared and shoot as if that shot won’t happen again…sometimes it won’t…
