Mayor Greg Nickels, President Emmert and the starstruck feeling

I remember when I first saw Mayor Greg Nickels. It was last year at the Green Festival held at the Convention Center in Downtown Seattle. Seeing him in person was a bit overwhelming to me. Maybe because of the whole "celebrity" thought. Youknow, the thought of someone important/famous being in your midst. These were the photos that ran in the paper (with him present):


Although the above images work, I like these bottom photos as well..perhaps even more. They seem to carry more personality and importance than the other images do. They're more portrait-like than the photos that ran. Of course though, the article was about the event and not just on Mayor Greg Nickels, so I can see why the above photos were chosen over these bottom ones.



The same overwhelming feeling applied when I first saw President Emmert. I guess I was a bit starstruck and didn't take any photos the first time he was at an event. But the second time I saw him, the feeling was gone. And I'm not saying I feel that he's less important, but maybe the celebrity-status was diminished after the initial encounter.

Anyway, President Emmert was giving his annual address and the photo above is one of the images that ran in the paper. (this is the 2nd time I saw him) I think the photo is okay at best. I mean, it has the diagonal from his head, to his hand, to the W in the background...but I feel like it's missing something.

This is the other image that ran:

This photo definately works but it's too similar to another photo that another photographer took, but on the other side of the room...

I can't help feeling that there maybe should've been another photo that ran instead.
Here are some of those:


I like this image above primarily because it represents what he was saying about moving forward and how we need to think about not only the next following years, but 10 years ahead from now. My editor noted that it kind of looked like he was giving a Nazi salute. I can see what he's talking about and agree that this photo shouldn't run, but I still like the representational/symbolic aspect of the image.

I feel like the photos that don't run in the paper are my thoughts that don't quite develop well enough.

They're like fragments of my mind...Incomplete ideas waiting for that extra something to be whole