Election 2012: How Las Vegas Sun photographer Sam Morris makes images of the president
October 30th, 2012
Sam Morris on photographing the president:
How do you shoot candidates in essentially the same, controlled situation time after time and keep it interesting? First, I get bored. Not with the event, which, no matter how many time I do it is still fun to cover, but with my photos. I don’t like turning in the same photos over and over, so when I am getting the standard CYA (cover your ass) shots, I am always looking for something that might look different. The events are very well planned and scripted, which makes me look around for things that aren’t scripted that will either add to the story or just be an interesting picture. Sometimes I’ll pull out a toy film camera like for the panorama shot with a Sprocket Rocket, or a Lensbaby and play around with selective focus. Then, sometimes you get lucky and the president steps into a bubble of lens flair.
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- President Barack Obama speaks while White House Photographer Pete Souza crouches nearby during a campaign stop at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, 2012.
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- Members of the traveling White House pool record and photograph a live video feed of President Barack Obama as he takes part in a video conference before a campaign appearance in Las Vegas on Sept. 19, 2012.
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- President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas. This photo was taken with a selective focus lens.
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- President Barack Obama’s water glass is seen on the podium after a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas.
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- President Barack Obama during a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas.
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- President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas. This photo was taken with a selective focus lens.
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- President Barack Obama during a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas.
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- President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 at Doolittle Park. An estimated 13,000 turned out for his ninth visit to Nevada this year.
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- New York Times photographer Damon Winter, left, and Associated Press photographer Pablo Martinez Monsivais photograph the crowd while President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 at Doolittle Park. An estimated 13,000 turned out for his ninth visit to Nevada this year.
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- President Barack Obama waves to supporters at the conclusion of his campaign speech Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas.
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- A supporter holds the book, “The Promise,” while President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.
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- President Barack Obama speaks during an event at a solar field south of Boulder City June 27, 2012.
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- A supporter waves a sign while waiting for President Barack Obama at a campaign event Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas.
Visit SND.org later this to week see how Las Vegas Sun photographer Steve Marcus approaches shooting campaign events featuring Governor Mitt Romney.
(Sam Morris is a photographer at the Las Vegas Sun. You can follow him on Twitter or visit his Instagram at sampix_morris. More of his images can be found here.)
