Barack in Black and White (NC photo diary)

 So I was able to attend Senator Obama's "Get Out the Vote" rally in Charlotte,NC last night at the Cricket Arena, a smaller, older and intimate arena near downtown Charlotte.

I arrived early to insure a good spot to listen to Senator Obama and because I wanted to photograph the event. I should say that I am an semi-amateur photographer trying to do more photography and less of my day job. I use Leica M series cameras (www.leica-camera.com) and for this rally I was using the sublime Leica M8, their digital rangefinder camera.

One of my dreams has always been to be a photojournalist on a presidential campaign so this event was a fun little exercise in combining my love of photography, my aspirations and supporting the candidate that I feel is the best hope for our country to come along in my lifetime.

I won't go into much of the gory details as I'm a better photographer than writer.

I did show up early and secured a spot at the front near the podium. The event started around the scheduled time with a local politician, a reverend, a staffer and a nice young girl who led the crowd in the pledge of allegiance. After a short wait and some great cheering Senator Obama came out from stage left to an electrified welcome and went into a long but inspirational speech. He covered all the bases from his platform positions to uplifting anecdotes and jabs at Senator McCain and President Bush's failed policies. The occasional veiled slight at his Democratic opponent were thrown in for good measure (it is still a nomination fight right?).

So that is my stripped down summation. Really wanted to share a few photographs of the event more than anything so here ya go......