As a newspaper photojournalist and reporter for the Courier-Post, election night is always work. Getting quotes from this candidate. Interviewing voters about their thoughts. Finding the non-cliche photo. Now, being at a local paper, we don't exactly have access to the big names. There is no reporter covering the presidential race. Instead, I had the 1st Congressional District of New Jersey between Rob Andrews and Dale Glading.
But, for this year's presidential election, as soon as our newsroom realized there was no doubt that Barack Obama would become this nation's first African-American President, and take over the White House, it became clear we needed to find an Obama Party before the news media would make the call.
I found students huddling around big-screen TVs at Rutgers University-Camden, a school with a large Black population. So I just waited...but I didn't have to long. When CNN called the race, the crowd erupted. None of this was posed. Obama didn't win. They had. The energy was brilliant and overwhelming and beautiful, regardless of which candidate you supported.
What I'm proud of is that I'll always go down in the history books for working on this historic day. On the front page of my paper, there are only two pictures, one of Obama, and one of my shots from above. I also grabbed some quotes, but I'm really pleased with the last-minute photos. I'm proud to be an American, again...
Joe G
P.S. My contributions are meager, so I recommend a few other links, one from the New York Times: Damon Winter Photo Essay
And another from Getty
