The Heels Are On...

Reuters staff photographer Carlos Barria is under fire for taking a photo during a McCain rally that shows the legs and heels of Sarah Palin. On the FOX news website, thousands have charged that the photo is sexist and is part of some grand scheme by the “mainstream media” to suggest that Palin’s only qualifications are her looks. I think that the general public is intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions on Palin based on her actions, not her looks. Some people have said that a picture like this wouldn’t have been taken if Palin was a man. There are a good number of people that have responded to the claim and see nothing wrong with it.

I am having a hard time seeing anything wrong with this photo. The picture of a candidate’s feet is nothing new. I know, I have recycled that photo many times over the years – of both men and women. I don’t remember hearing an outcry from the Hillary campaign or anyone else when just about every wire service photographer lined up her heels with supporters or her husband. Where was FOX news then? Where were the critics? It doesn’t make sense that now, all of the sudden, it’s a problem. To debunk the theory that “this photo would have never happened if Palin was a man” I looked back into my archives to see whose feet I had shot. The list is long. I found photos of John Kerry, John Kerry’s daughter, Mike Huckabee and even a woman named Hillary Clinton. The one photo that is similar to Carlos’ picture is of Vannessa Kerry, John Kerry’s daughter. It was in Ohio and her legs are prominent in the frame and John is speaking in the background. I don’t remember any contoversy about that photo.
The Huckabee photo shows his alligator skinned cowboy boots in an awkward stance at this community center in Iowa. The other Kerry pictures were similar. The only difference between the Palin picture and the multitude of Hillary shoe photos that are out there, including mine, is that Hillary doesn’t wear 3 to 4 inch heels or skirts. I did manage to find this comment about a Hillary shoe picture that was written by a woman. See it here.

I personally think that there are far more important issues at stake in this race than worrying about a photo that shows things that the campaign has highlighted in their stump speeches. Are her hands off limits too?

“The heels are on, the gloves are off” - Sarah Palin, October 6, 2008

Baked Alaska and Delaware Punch

What ever happened to Delaware Punch? Remember, it was that super sweet grape-like flavored drink that came in a purple and pink can. It was known as the “soft” soft drink since it wasn’t carbonated. My mom used to love that stuff. I thought it tasted like perfume. Not that I have ever consumed perfume. You know what I mean. Now, baked Alaska is something that I have never tried. Where in the hell do you get baked Alaska? I don’ think I have ever seen it on a menu. I do like the flames. Is that normal? Someone should have had a bi-partisan viewing party for the VP debate with these two things served up for guests. Someone would surely get lit on fire by the baked Alaska flames. Good times.

Did you join millions of Americans and watch the VP debate? I was working during the debate, so I missed most of it. What I did see was fairly entertaining though. I went to a few different places to take pictures of people watching the debate. My first stop was at a viewing party hosted by the Barack Obama campaign. The venue was held at a night club which was as dark as a cave. There was a sizeable crowd on hand but I didn’t stay at the even very long since it was so dark, I didn’t want to kill people with the inevitable use of a flash, which I am not a fan of. The crowd was pretty raucous, booing, hissing and often laughing as Sarah Palin spoke. I don’t think anyone actually listened to what she was saying. As I left the Obama event, I noticed people overflowing onto the street at an Irish Pub across the street. They seemed a little more civil as they watched the debate but this is San Francisco and people were certainly poking a lot of fun at the republican VP candidate as she dodged questions and in some cases changed the subject. More pictures of the back of people's heads as they watched TV. I wish they would stand with their backs to the TV so I can see their faces. Would make a much nice picture.
On my way to my final spot, a laundry, I listened to the debate on the radio. I was becoming increasingly annoyed with the “you betchas” and the “gosh dangits.” I understand the whole “wanting to appeal to the working class” but come on. I thought I was listening to Edie McClurg (the woman with the high pitched voice from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes, Trains and Automobiles). Man, what an annoying voice. And that accent is getting old.
At the wash and dry in the Mission District, several Latino families were doing their laundry as Palin and Biden duked it out on three of the six televisions in the building. Nobody was watching the debate. I guess it is difficult to follow a debate when the sound is down and you probably don’t understand English. They seemed to be enjoying the other TVs with Telemundo and Mexican soap operas.

The Oracle

With our nation in crisis mode, I thought it was only prudent to suspend my blog through these difficult times. O.K., enough of that, I’m back.

I was driving home from an assignment the other day and for some reason I thought of Dan Quayle. Yeah, don’t ask me why, I have no explanation for that. Anyway, I’m assuming I thought of him because of the ongoing talk about Sarah Palin and how many think that she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. So, I thought that it might be good to start calling her Sarah Quaylin. Alternatively, you could add an “E” to the end of Quaylin to commemorate the famous Dan Quayle “potatoe” gaffe.

It’s been a week of shooting technology leaders that have been speaking at the Oracle Open World conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The Oracle convention is one of the bigger ones that comes to SF. They shut down a main thoroughfare to pitch huge tents for convention attendees to have lunch and occupy 3 huge halls of the Moscone Center. This year, Oracle has gone out of its way to promote the convention as a “green” event. One of the highlights was stationary bikes that you could hop on and charge your cell phone by pedaling for 15 minutes. The press release about the bikes made it sound like there was going to be several bikes that could possibly generate enough power to help power the convention. I thought that would be a fun thing to shoot as a “green’ feature, so I headed down to check it out.

Well, there were only 4 bikes that I could find. Then I had to wait for someone to get on one of them. I sat there for close to an hour. Some people would walk by (many of them overweight), look for a second, shake their head and move on. Grim.
With no takers on the bike front, I went for my second “green” option, the biodegradable food trays and utensils. All the food at the convention was served on trays made from plant material as was the water cups. The forks and knives were made from potatoes. There were people who would help you sort out your trash into the appropriate recycling bins. I met a “green team” member named John who appeared to be either homeless or part of a rehab program. I had been watching him for a while and noticed that after people would dump their trays into the bins he would take some of the leftovers for himself. He even offered me a brownie. I had to pass on that. One of the sides for the day’s lunch was a barley salad, which went untouched by most. John quipped “I guess people out here don’t care too much for barley” and with that he took a pinch and popped it in his mouth.

The keynotes over the next few days included Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel. Otellini is one of the most boring speakers on earth. It’s really tough to stay awake when he is on the mic. I would give anything to have Craig Barrett back, at least he was funny.
Mega-rich and eccentric Ellison is a weird dude. The guy is so full of himself. And what's up with that swarmy little beard he's got going? He opened his speech with a MTV style video of his new Oracle Trimaran racing boat. He then went on to talk about it in length. Does anyone care? Then he broke into the tech talk. I never have any idea what he is talking about. I’m not even sure what Oracle does. The tech talk is not only boring, but it is like listening to a foreign language. He went on to announce a joint effort with HP to produce some new server database thingy. It came out of the floor with fog machines going and dazzling light show. Don't ask me what it is or does. I had a hard enough time captioning the photos since it had two or three names.
People pay huge money to come to these conferences, I wonder what they get out of it.

Goose and Maverick - RNC Fianle

After last night’s big Sarah Palin love fest, how was McCain going to upstage her tonight with his acceptance speech? He’s not really known to have the most dynamic personality out there.

I got down to the hall around 11:30. McCain was expected to do his walk through around 1:30. The stage had been altered for tonight’s show. A short runway led to a podium that they could lower into the floor. Unlike the moveable podium that Obama had in Denver, they couldn’t figure out how to get this one to completely disappear into the floor. The top part of the podium and the microphones stuck out.
Workers continued doing final adjustments to the podium and runway. It wasn’t until after 2:30 that McCain came out to do his sound check. Joe Lieberman came along with McCain, as did most of McCain’s family and advisors. Lieberman was like a lost puppy, he wouldn’t leave McCain’s side. I’m surprised they weren’t holding hands. He had the biggest ear to ear smile. He totally wanted that VP nod and this was as good as it was going to get, he might as well make the most of the moment. Someone tell this guy that he wasn't picked as McCain's running mate.

The cut riser (or pod, as they are calling it) is packed tonight. There has to be about 12 of us on this thing. I got into my spot early since I didn’t think I would be able to squeeze in if I waited until later in the evening. I have so much stuff, I could really use a Sherpa. I'm weighed down with too many cameras and lenses as I try to make it up the steep ladder onto the riser. Packed in like sardines, it was difficult to turn around to shoot anything behind me or to the sides, especially since my cameras were connected to those ethernet cables that were just a tad bit short.
A day after the sign of the day read “service”, today’s sign read “peace.” Hmmmm, that doesn’t really jive with all the war rhetoric I have been hearing all week.
McCain came on stage a little after nine. Illuminated by a single spotlight, The Mac made his way down the runway doing his best to get his arms as high as they would go. He was doing a good job, actually. The arena lights came up and it was a sea of McCain – Palin signs as the fans cheered on their man. It was exciting in a way that you wouldn’t expect from a McCain event, at least one that I have ever been to. Then he started speaking and it was back to the old McCain that I know.

His speech was pretty dull, not that anyone really expected anything different. He did say something about his opponent that none of his other colleagues (especially his running mate) had really said this entire week. The Mac made a very sincere comment about Barack Obama and his supporters, something that reminded me of a McCain from the past when he seemed to be a little more of a centrist. Here is the quote from the speech.

“Finally, a word to Senator Obama and his supporters. We'll go at it over the next two months. That's the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other. We're dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. No country ever had a greater cause than that. And I wouldn't be an American worthy of the name if I didn't honor Senator Obama and his supporters for their achievement.”
The night ended like most other conventions, the families came out and the Maverick waved with his new running mate. But, like the night before, it was awkward. McCain and Palin waved to the crowd only for a brief moment before disappearing to work the rope line. Rope line??? The balloons hadn’t even fallen yet (there was a TON of balloons). This isn’t a night for a rope line meet and greet session. Those two should have been out there in the confetti, hamming it up, kicking balloons and marveling at the fireworks...projected on the jumbotron. Awkward.
As the delegates filed out, taking their state signs and handfuls of confetti with them as souvenirs, Team Getty packed up shop. For the better part of 2 hours, 8 photographers, 4 picture editors, 1 tech guy and 2 runners wrapped up cables, took down the 4 remote cameras and loaded our bags. After two weeks of crazy politicians, It's Miller Time.

The Lipstick Wearing Pit Bull - RNC Day 3

It’s a big day today. Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak and her entire family, including the pregnant teen, will be there. We haven’t decided which will get more play, her speech or the pregnant teen. The first part of the day is like groundhog’s day. The delegates start filling the floor around 2 pm. Bored photographers hunt down another goofy hat or costume photo. Each day gets harder and harder to find something different.

Like previous days, the first 2-1/2 hours of the session is occupied with c-list speakers. I take my position on the perch. It’s packed tonight. They have 8 of us crammed into the top tier of the riser. Four people was pretty tight, eight is uncomfortable. With such little space, I am constantly getting bumped in the back of the head with lenses. It’s going to be a long night.

Three failed republican presidential hopefuls will be speaking tonight. Mitt Romney was the first to go. I really don’t have much to say about him, he’s just Mitt and he and Anne love all of you.

Mike “The Huckster” Huckabee went next. I loved covering Huckabee in Iowa and New Hampshire, he’s a very funny guy and always made for great pictures. Was good to wsee he’s out there. When he took the stage tonight, the giant screen behind him had a picture of a parking lot. Other people have had nice sunset vistas, a beautiful country road or a quaint American Main Street. Huck got a parking lot. Man, that’s rough. His speech was pretty bad. It was full of recycled stories from the Iowa days. He pulled out the old desk story. It totally bombed. Huck needs some new material.

Next up, Rudy G. Earlier in the day I had tried to get a betting pool going on how many times he would say 9/11 in his speech. I had no takers. Rudy was his normal arrogant self and started in on the Barack Bash almost immediately. He would belt out weird criticisms and then laugh at his own joke because nobody else was. It was bizarre. But, the most amazing thing was that he only mentioned 9/11 once or twice. I thought for sure it would be every other word. He did have to remind us a few times that he was the Mayor of New York City, just in case you had forgotten.

The catch phrase of the day was "we're winning, the surge has succeeded."

The pregnant teen and her gum chewing boyfriend were in the VIP box now. Every camera in the place was aimed towards them. He looked frightened. I would have been.
Sarah Palin hit the stage shortly after 9 pm. The crowd went nuts. She graciously waved to her fellow republicans and repeatedly said thank you. She seemed overwhelmed. I’m sure this wasn’t the size of crowd she had when she was mayor of the 9,000 person town. At one point during her speech the crowd went crazy and I saw her through my lens sort of gasp and mouth “oh wow.” She started out her speech really strong, this woman has spunk. It seemed like she knew what she was doing. Midway through the speech, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin made an appearance so she could have her daily arrest. She needs to not be so predictable.
I think a lot of people were impressed. The crowd loved her hockey mom/pit bull line with the lipstick punchline. The bashing began soon after and continued for the rest of her speech in the same joking way as Rudy. She had lots of zeal, but no substance.
At the end of her speech, McCain came out to deafening cheers. It was a really awkward moment. They both seemed confused. McCain blurted out one line, stood next to her for a minute and waved and then seemed to shrug his shoulders and say now what as he stood with his back to the audience. He then went behind her family as if to hide. Great coordination. Bizarre.