Once the proceedings were underway, the number of times that the inaugural ceremony called for those present to "please be seated" was a constant reminder that this is not an event typically put on for the standing masses. And yet when Obama spoke, he spoke to all of us.
"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies."
It was cold in Washington on January 20, 2009. As Obama thrilled the crowd ("... know this America, they will be met!"), the clapping of two million gloved hands sounded less like applause and more like an enormous herd thundering in a new direction.
The following portraits were taken in Washington D.C. the day before and the day of the inauguration. I asked my subjects a simple question: What does Barack Obama's election mean to you?
The weather outside on the ride down had been bleak: temperatures in the twenties, snowy. Gusts of wind had battered our bus across multiple lanes as we rolled down the New Jersey Turnpike. The return trip was different: same landscape, same towns, but under fairer skies. So what does Barack Obama's election mean to me? It means America still, but in a new light.
The following is a selection of images from this project.
2 comments:
Actually, what I said was that the inauguration means new possibilities.
I did comment on the fact that we could skate on a freeway by saying, "This is on a new scale in DC. We've lived here a long time and never seen anything like this". I was referring to streets and other closed-off places on which we were allowed to skate that day.
To merge the two statements is to mis-represent what I said.
Thanks for the correction. looks fantastic!
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