Thursday, November 6, 2008

Obama, Supercross, Gwyneth and Leo

Ohhhhbama.


An aerial view of Barack Obama's face sculpted from gravel and sand by US artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada in Barcelona (Reuters photo).

I spent election night first shooting Gwyneth Paltrow and director James Gray at the French premiere of the film "Two Lovers" (tip to Gwyneth; not the best idea to wear see through lace with camera flashes close to you)


and then zoomed over to the Trocadero across from the Eiffel Tower to the official American election viewing party. The mood was good but visually it wasn't so interesting. Except for this lady.


I received around 10 text messages and emails from friends around the world congratulating me (as if I did something) about our election. The news was clearly the talk of the town here (like it was most places) and I know that there were many private election viewing parties in the city with people staying up all night, waiting for the official announcement that came quite early in the morning local time.

But my highlight of the election week (other than Obama winning) was a conversation I overheard in a cafe the day after the election. There was one older man eating some raw meat with a raw egg on it and he started a conversation with the waiter that I was thankful to hear. They started talking about the US election and I heard the dubiously black waiter say “il est un negre, comme mois” (he's a negro like me). Then I heard the word ‘N-word’ in English thrown around a couple of times. There were also a few references to Big Macs and McDonalds as well. It wasn't clear to me exactly what they were saying but it seemed to be good spirited.

On the photo front, I had a great time photographing the Supercross of Paris.


I dig how the camera takes me to places and experiences I would otherwise never know - like motocross. Who knew you could bring a chainsaw (granted, without the blade) into the stadium to make as much noise as possible during pauses in the show? It's pretty deafening.

To see more Supercross images CLICK HERE.


Leonardo DiCaprio was also in Paris this week for the French premier of the film "Body of Lies" ...


This is seriously one of the funniest and well-done political videos I've seen in a while. I literally laughed out loud:



Some photos of the week ...

Tricky

Inexplicable junk left in front of my door

No comments: