On Monday, January 21 Barack Obama was re-inauagurated as the 44th President of the United States. As a result of the work that we have done for the Civil War Sesquicentennial commemorative events my team was asked to come to Washington to serve the same purpose for the 57th Presidential Inauguration. I worked on a few projects ahead of time in the weeks leading up the main event including designing a commemorative button. It was fun to see all the people wearing that button out on the Mall on Monday!
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| On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial |
For the week immediately preceding the Inauguration we worked out of the headquarters of the National Capitol Region in DC so that we could more easily access the Mall. It was the first time that I had been back on the Mall in an official capacity since I concluded my time there in December of 2010. It was fun to be back, especially as a photographer. I got to wonder around and talk to people while taking pictures of the preparation for the Inauguration. Not a bad gig! We also made a series of quick informative videos to help people know what to expect when they got to the Mall. They were done with an I-phone and are not good quality, but it was still fun. These four featured me as the voice of the Park Service.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
I also made a cameo in two additional videos.
The first was a
Video on Recycling and the second discussed
Remaining on the Mall after the Inauguration.
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| Me with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar |
By far the most exciting part of my job in the days leading up to the Inauguration came on Saturday, January 19. The President had declared a National Day of Service on that day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Projects were done around the country including on the National Mall. One of those projects was to lay out new mulch at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Since it was happening in DC and had such clear connections to the reason for the event, the Superintendent of the National Mall came out to make an appearance. He was joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. If you don't know, he is second only to the President himself as my ultimate boss, which made having the chance to photograph him especially exciting. When he arrived at the memorial I happened to see him getting out of the SUV and was closer than anyone else so took it upon myself to approach and welcome him. I shook his hand and spoke to him briefly just before one of my colleagues snapped the picture above.
On Inauguration Day I arrived on the Mall before sunrise and captured several pictures of the Capitol as the sun was rising.
It was unclear exactly where I would be able to get to during the event since it was actually being run by the White House and controlled by the Secret Service. But between my uniform and my special credential I managed to get all the way up to third street, which marks the official transition between the National Mall and the grounds of the Capitol. There were a lot of special moments that I observed throughout the day, but my favorites all involved the American flag. Here are a few of them.
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| A 2013 Flag is raised as Jimmy Carter arrives |
I also got several shots of rangers out on the Mall including these two. The first depicts the head of communications for the Inauguration (my direct boss for the event) with the Director of the National Capitol Region of the Park Service (fourth down in my personal chain of command-- from the President to the Secretary of the Interior to the Director of the National Park Service to the Director of the National Capitol Region). The second depicts the Regional Director and the Superintendent of the National Mall as they watched the swearing in ceremony.
In the early morning hours I had scouted out a route to allow me to get from the National Mall to the Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue and was successful in making the transition between the two despite the crowds. It is amazing what you can get away with if you act like you are supposed to be doing it! I was the only one on our team to make it into the parade, which gave me a unique opportunity to get some fun pictures.
It was a parade unlike any I have ever seen. Law Enforcement Officers from around the country lined both sides of the street along the entire parade route to ensure security.
Flags hung from every lamp post and from many of the buildings.
People were out on the rooftops of many of the surrounding buildings. These viewers were not alone. They were joined by Secret Service agents with huge binoculars and sniper rifles on the roofs of nearly every building on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Without question the most exciting photographic opportunity of my Park Service career came during the parade. I happened to have positioned myself along the three block section in which the President got out of his limo and walked down the street. There were vehicles and Secret Service agents all around him, I had to shoot between the law enforcement officers in front of me, and he kept looking the wrong way, so it was quite challenging to get pictures. Even so I ended up with a few decent ones.
My Mom actually saw me taking pictures of the POTUS during the CBS coverage of the parade.
It was easier to get the Vice President as the security was much less oppressive.
It was a very special day, which will rank amongst the most memorable in my Park Service career. It was especially fun because it happened on Martin Luther King Day, exactly three years after I so memorably ended up giving a special program on Dr. King to
More than 500 People at the Lincoln Memorial.
For more of images from the Inauguration take a look at this album of
My Inauguration Pictures.
You can also find many of my pictures featured on the
National Mall Facebook Page.
My images are featured most prominently in the album of the
Inaugural Parade (since I was the only one on the parade route), but you will also find them in the albums of
People Arriving on the Mall and of the
Swearing-In Ceremony itself.
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| The Inauguration Web and Social Media Team |
