Thursday, November 09, 2006

Election Day in Alabama


Took the liberty of taking Tyler out of school on Tuesday so he could go with me to cover the elections. As part of his 4th grade studies, he has a class in Alabama history, so what better way to experience it than first hand.
We left the house at 8am and drove through rural Alabama to be on hand to photograph Gov. Bob Riley voting in his hometown of Ashland. On the way up, we stopped in Seman, Ala, (I'm not making this up)and made photos of voters at the polls. I'd give Tyler whatever camera and lens I didn't need so he could shoot also.
Once we got to Ashland, we photographed the governor voting. Gov. Riley gave Tyler one of his Alabama pins and the two had a nice conversation.
We then headed to Birmingham for Gov. Riley's victory celebration later that evening.
During our down time in Birmingham and on the car ride, Tyler read quite a bit, and worked on his math homework. He also had fun instant messaging some of my colleagues, that's another story.
After Gov. Riely's victory speech, Tyler photographed the governor shaking hands with supporters, one of which I came real close to moving, and collected signs and other stuff for his project.
All in all a great day for the both of us. We had a lot of fun. Tyler got the chance to meet a bunch of the great people I work with across the state and to be a part of Alabama history.
He is going to do a photo essay on his experience for his Alabama History portfolio.
Should be fun helping him put it togother. While we didn't get home until 1am, it was worth it.
Cheers, Rob