Candidate Charlie Brown's election night party (8 images)

[Tony Finnerty]

I met and photographed Charlie Brown (candidate for congress, 4th District, California) a month or so ago at a campaign event and liked him, so have become a volunteer photographer for his campaign.

The election night party turned into a victory celebration when Charlie won the Democratic nomination (lots of photos posted at http://flipperty.smugmug.com/gallery/1539277). Three newspaper/magazine photographers at the party all shot Nikons. I used my E-1 and 14-54 lens with FL-50 mounted on a bracket. Interestingly, there were no Canons.

Here is one of my favorite candid portraits of Charlie because it shows his underlying sense of humor:

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74132159-M.jpg

Here is the crowd, watching returns on TV and being pumped up when the TV news crew arrived:

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74132005-M.jpg

His camera is bigger than my camera...

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74131049-M.jpg

Dana Howard would do the live broadcast for News10 (Sacramento):

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74132458-M.jpg

Things were happening too fast and I forgot to bounce flash off the ceiling, so all my shots of the interview have blown highlights. This my best effort salvaging images:

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74130604-M.jpg

This is my favorite candid portrait of the TV newscaster. What do you think of the tight composition cutting off the top and back of his head?

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74132557-M.jpg

I rather like this shot over the cameraman's shoulder. It took a lot of post-processing to tone down the bright flash in the foreground while bringing up Dana Howard in the background:

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74131954-M.jpg

Lest I forget the real purpose of the party, here is a closing photo of Charlie responding to a question after it was clear he had won the nomination. He's a happy fella.

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/photos/74132742-M.jpg

I've never been involved in a political campaign before. This is definitely fun!

[Julio]

The election night party turned into a victory celebration when Charlie won the Democratic nomination (lots of photos posted at http://flipperty.smugmug.com/gallery/1539277).

"Sorry, that gallery doesn't seem to exist"

[assafx]

omg is that his real name...lol.

[Heron]

omg is that his real name...lol.

I think both the names are amusing! Dump Doolittle! Ha! :D

That being said, you did a good job on these, they really convey what it's like to "be there"! I'll be taking a stab or two at event photography next month:nailbiting:and I hope to do as well as you did here! The one over the cameraman's shoulder might have been a good candidate for multiple-raw-exposure type of techniques, is that what you did?

[Tony Finnerty]

Yes, that's his real name! Lt. Colonel Charles D. Brown, US Air Force (retired), to be exact. And Doolittle is the incumbent's name. So the election (from a partisan point of view) is Charlie Brown vs. Do-Little. California politics can be entertaining. Heck, look at who is our governator...

I shoot RAW but have never tried the multiple-RAW-exposure technique to compensate for dynamic range. The over-the-shoulder shot would be a good one to try. I started with Shadow/Highlights in Photoshop CS2, then fiddled with curves and tweaked with Brightness/Contrast. Layer masks were used to affect the parts of the photo I wanted.

I wish I could have dimmed the cameraman more, but that makes the blown highlights stand out more. The announcer could be brighter, too, but that brought up too much noise that couldn't be removed without unacceptable softening. The best thing would have been to take a better photo, e.g., by bouncing flash from the ceiling to get it over the cameraman. Things move fast at events but, with more experience, maybe I'll think of it in time.

Enjoy your opportunities for event photography next month, Heron! And thanks for your comments.