[quote=Reuters]
The call came at 10pm on a Sunday night at home. “How soon can you get to the White House”? Reuters had got the urgent call that President Barack Obama was due to make a statement within 30 minutes. It had to be something big to bring the press back so late on a weekend night. Even if I dropped everything now and raced down there, would I be too late?
I was there in 14 minutes – a new personal best, from my home three miles away. Running through White House security gates with my shoe laces still untied, I was thinking that I hadn’t made it in time for whatever the big news was. The scene outside the famous 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address was familiarly quiet, with a couple uniformed Secret Service officers and their squad car.
Inside the press briefing room, wire and newspaper photographers started filtering in, showing varying states of preparedness but all wondering the same question. Why are we here?
In the U.S. TV network booths, a closed circuit live shot from the East Room of the White House showed lighting technicians, cameramen and producers readying the Presidential lectern for remarks. They were scrambling faster than I had seen, and these guys are always pretty slick.
After 20 minutes, a tight group of five photographers were led through the quiet night by staff up to the state floor of the White House, waiting for President Obama to deliver a statement. It was there that I glimpsed the words flashing on the teleprompter that I won’t forget any time soon. President Obama was about to declare Osama bin Laden had been killed.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog0600.jpg[/img]
Eerily, the muted sounds of cheering were heard from outside the White House. It seemed the news had just hit the streets but weren’t there just a couple of police out there a minute ago? We knew Obama’s speech was just seconds away. He emerged from the Blue Room and strode past us to the lectern and as Obama began to read the statement to the nation and the first TV frame-grabs were being taken back in our office, I was able to run the camera’s memory disk to Jonathan Ernst, another photographer here for Reuters who was ready to transmit those early pictures.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog4600.jpg[/img]
As President Obama continued his nine-minute address in front of just one main network camera, the photographers were held outside the room by staff and asked to remain completely silent. Once Obama was off the air, we were escorted in front of that teleprompter and the President then re-enacted the walk-out and first 30 seconds of the statement for us.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog5600.jpg[/img]
After running back to send our pictures – tight crops, loose crops, walking towards us and away from us, side angles and such, as many versions of 30 seconds of picture-taking as I could think of, it was time to see what was going on outside.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog2600.jpg[/img]
It was now midnight and those two police and their car were now engulfed by thousands of chanting, flag-waving revelers. It sounded like a sports stadium. The noise was deafening and it was a sight I had never seen before in this normally quiet and reserved political town.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img]
Thousands of college students pouring out of bars, tourists and residents scrambled to the White House to take in this historic moment. People were hanging from trees, guys were dressed in Spiderman and Captain America Costumes and strains of the Star Spangled Banner were spontaneously being sung. It was like a carnival.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog6600.jpg[/img]
I can only guess that, like the recent uprisings on the streets of Cairo, social networking sites like facebook and twitter must have contributed to a massive gathering of random people in one place. Cars loaded with flag-waving revelers were honking their horns into the wee hours of the morning in celebratory scenes also echoed in Times Square that night.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog3600.jpg[/img]
By the time I got home at 3am I couldn’t go to sleep. The last few hours had been one large blur, punctuated with surreal moments not normally seen in Washington with the exception of Presidential inaugurations and large organized rallies.
Tonight reminded me that big news can happen in the blink of an eye and as a news photographer it always pays to have your equipment ready to record history.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog7600.jpg[/img]
Further clarification in response to some of the comments below:
Every nationally-televised Presidential statement of historical significance and of this nature, going back decades, is made specifically for television. The concept of accommodating still photographers immediately after these events is a courtesy extended to us by each administration so that a still record of the event is made by the independent press that work at the White House. To reproduce the same angle that viewers had just seen on TV, the still photographer must step right in front of the teleprompter and block the TV camera. This is the only way to do it, so stills cannot be in that position during the event. In addition, the noise made by the still cameras and the movement by the photographers themselves would be an unnecessary distraction for the President if pictures were take during the live address.
The fact that still photographers even get this picture is a result of negotiations made between the press and each successive presidential staff, for the benefit of the printed press whose needs we try to meet every day. Our photo captions explain full disclosure that the pictures are taken following the actual address to make clear the circumstances under which the picture was taken.
[/quote]
Source:
[url]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2011/05/02/ready-to-record-history/[/url]
tl;dr:
As President Obama continued his nine-minute address in front of just one main network camera, the photographers were held outside the room by staff and asked to remain completely silent. Once Obama was off the air, we were escorted in front of that teleprompter and the President then re-enacted the walk-out and first 30 seconds of the statement for us.
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog7600.jpg[/img]
walkin away like a badass
inb4 America hate
fuck patriotism!!!!!! those pictures make me RAGE!! this is what's wrong with our country!!!!!
so those photos of the president are just a re-enactment?
[QUOTE=bobste;29711539]fuck patriotism!!!!!! those pictures make me RAGE!! this is what's wrong with our country!!!!![/QUOTE]
yeah i hate ppl who like thar contry WTF!!!!!!111 why cant they b all edgy like ME!!!
[QUOTE=bobste;29711539]fuck patriotism!!!!!! those pictures make me RAGE!! this is what's wrong with our country!!!!![/QUOTE]
You're just posting this because the guy above you said something about incoming America hate, right?
[QUOTE=ridinmybike;29711607]so those photos of the president are just a re-enactment?[/QUOTE]
Is there anything that comes out of the white house that ISN'T pre-screened?
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img]
The fact that this is a response to someone's death is absolutely sickening
I understand why people in the middle east are burning that flag
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29711807][img_thumb]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img_thumb]
The fact that this is a response to someone's death is absolutely sickening
I understand why people in the middle east are burning that flag[/QUOTE]
They've been brainwashed to believe that Osama was singlehandedly responsible for 9\11, what the fuck do you expect?
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29711807][img_thumb]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img_thumb]
The fact that this is a response to someone's death is absolutely sickening
I understand why people in the middle east are burning that flag[/QUOTE]
People in America (and other countries) have had massive outrages at similar situations in other countries. It's no different to people in say the middle east celebrating the death of an American.
[QUOTE=Jsm;29711858]People in America (and other countries) have had massive outrages at similar situations in other countries. It's no different to people in say the middle east celebrating the death of an American.[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure we call those people terrorists.
[QUOTE=CjienX;29711823]They've been brainwashed to believe that [B]Osama was singlehandedly responsible[/B] for 9\11, what the fuck do you expect?[/QUOTE]
It's no different then someone blaming something on the president instead of the Senate committee that passed the unpopular law, Osama [I]represented[/I] the attackers just like any other head of an organization.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;29711891]It's no different then someone blaming something on the president instead of a Senate committee, Osama [I]represented[/I] the attackers.[/QUOTE]
The only people I ever see blame the president are people who criticize every single thing that he does, and I only see the enemy blame america in general, not just the president
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29711807][img_thumb]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img_thumb]
The fact that this is a response to someone's death is absolutely sickening
I understand why people in the middle east are burning that flag[/QUOTE]
Oh please
I understand where you are coming from but "sickening" isn't a word I'd say to people celebrating the death of someone who was the main backbone behind 3000 other deaths to happen in the moment of a few hours, especially on their own homeland.
I didn't celebrate and I probably wouldn't because a celebration of someone's death doesn't ring for me, no matter how evil. Of course I'm more of someone to appreciate the closure and justice versus outright celebration. However that said I still don't see anything off with people who do celebrate such a circumstance.
[QUOTE=Wii60;29711306][img_thumb]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog7600.jpg[/img_thumb]
walkin away like a badass[/QUOTE]
Now imagine this picture, with you looking at Gordon walking away.
[img]http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/games/wallpapers/half-life-2-gordon-freeman.jpg[/img]
It's amazing how they managed to get the camera crews all ready down that at that time of the night.
That was a good read.
Artificial things like that always kind of disturb me. Like how the picture of the soldier raising the flag at Iwo Jima was just a reenactment.
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising.jpg[/img]
It's just seems so strange.
[QUOTE=angelangel;29712504]It's amazing how they managed to get the camera crews all ready down that at that time of the night.[/QUOTE]
Not really, even when you're on a schedule it doesn't take much to get a crew set up and ready to go. The people who work the equipment treat it like they would their cellphone. It's on constant standby.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;29711807][img_thumb]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog1600.jpg[/img_thumb]
The fact that this is a response to someone's death is absolutely sickening
I understand why people in the middle east are burning that flag[/QUOTE]
If it makes you feel better, the Palestinians were jubilant when they heard of the news of the 9/11 attacks.
The day the news came out, I wanted to celebrate, but the democrat in me said I shouldn't. :sigh:
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;29712986]If it makes you feel better, the Palestinians were jubilant when they heard of the news of the 9/11 attacks.[/QUOTE]
Which Palestinians? You know that many more of them just desire peace and not all of Israel/America destroyed.
Everything is so utterly slanted nowadays.
I get it, you guys are trying to be 'reasonable' and 'intellectual'. Too bad there are families that will never see their parents, children, sisters, brothers or friends again because of that man. Don't rain on everybody's parade just to be different.
If we'd gone in and killed Ghadaffi, you guys would be jizzing all over yourselves.
[QUOTE=Sourcream&onion;29713609]I get it, you guys are trying to be 'reasonable' and 'intellectual'. Too bad there are families that will never see their parents, children, sisters, brothers or friends again because of that man. Don't rain on everybody's parade just to be different.
If we'd gone in and killed Ghadaffi, you guys would be jizzing all over yourselves.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure there were people celebrating the symbolism of the deaths of 3000 American businesspeople, but you'd disagree that that's a perfectly fine thing to do, right?
[QUOTE=Sourcream&onion;29713609]I get it, you guys are trying to be 'reasonable' and 'intellectual'. Too bad there are families that will never see their parents, children, sisters, brothers or friends again because of that man. Don't rain on everybody's parade just to be different.
If we'd gone in and killed Ghadaffi, you guys would be jizzing all over yourselves.[/QUOTE]
You're the kind of person that thinks an eye for an eye is a good system.
[QUOTE=Mlisen14;29714970]I'm sure there were people celebrating the symbolism of the deaths of 3000 American businesspeople, but you'd disagree that that's a perfectly fine thing to do, right?[/QUOTE]
Because they were innocent people who did nothing to deserve their fate. They worked an honest life and received an honest pay. They only died because an evil madman decided that he would enact an invisible war against a country that he believed was somehow wrong due to his flawed views on religion and society. The man was the scum of humankind and to say that celebrating his death is bad only puts you on the level of some wannabe white knight who thinks he's doing the right thing by being different.
[b]Osama was a horrible person who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and to say celebrating his death is wrong makes you a complete ass.[/b]
[i]Obama ready to play his favourite arcade game, Pacman[/i]
[img]http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/files/2011/05/osamablog0600.jpg[/img]
To everyone who think celebrating a bad person's death is wrong. Was celebrating Hitler's suicide wrong?
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