Capital Cities; Scene

Capitalizing on the rotunda theme, and being pressed for time, I’ve pulled an image from my files that I made almost exactly twenty one years ago, May 11, 1993.  I had gone to Washington to shoot some travel stock, thinking that it would be my last chance to get out of town for a while as I was expecting the birth of my first child in about six weeks. I’d been there a couple of days and had an idea to shoot The Capitol.  I set-up my camera and my 600mm f4.0 lens on two tripods, right on the center line of Pennsylvania Avenue, and had just begun shooting when a DC policeman came by and told me I had to move, the President was coming through.  My assistant and I picked-up the entire rig and moved off to the sidewalk.  Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the President’s motorcade passed.  We waved at Bill Clinton, he waved back, all the cars went by, we picked-up the rig and moved back to the center line.  A few adjustments later I was shooting again. I’d managed to squeeze-off about seventy frames when the same DC policeman from before reappeared, told me I had to move, the President was coming through.  My assistant and I picked-up the entire rig and moved off to the sidewalk.  Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the President’s motorcade passed.  We waved at Bill Clinton, he waved back, all the cars went by, we packed-up the rig and went to meet a friend of mine for dinner. Later that night, returning to the hotel, there was a note from the manager stuck to my door, asking me to come to the office.  While I was doing the stock photo thing on Pennsylvania Avenue, my wife had prematurely gone into labor at NYU Medical Center in New York.  We rushed back to NYC over night, dumped the equipment at my studio and made it to the hospital.  My son, Aron, was born the next day. Leaving the hospital that evening, totally exhausted and struggling with the weight of being responsible for someone new, I was attempting to leave the parking lot when a NYC policeman came by, blocked me in and told me to wait, the President was coming through.  Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the President’s motorcade passed.  I waved at Bill Clinton, he waved back, all the cars went by, and I went home to bed.