2012 Republican National Convention

The 2012 RNC opened today in Tampa, Florida!  It was a fun day of walking around exploring. Here were a couple of photos from the day:

I set next to Sam Donaldson at lunch and really enjoyed saying hello to him.  I asked if I could take his picture, and he took it as me asking for a picture WITH him so I didn’t argue!  Here’s one of his famous quotes that I appreciate:  “Young people are often told to find something they love. No, I tell them to find something they’re good at. If they do, they’ll love it and people will reward them.”

I’m so excited to be able to photograph an event of this magnitude, I couldn’t help but jump up on the press conference podium for a photo… RNC Chairman Reince Priebus announced the conference open, then promptly postponed it until tomorrow due to Hurricane Isaac…

I was headed out to the car when I saw a lot of police activity, so followed them and found a bunch of protesters… Here are a few pictures:

The man on the phone in the background of the top left picture behind the wall of police is Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

I also want to send a thank you to Canon.  I wanted to get my camera cleaned, checked and calibrated but they were closing, so instead they gave me a 5d Mark III to use for the week! Thank you Canon CPS!!

The main event night (Senator Mitt Romney accepting formal nomination) began with a great deal of excitement and anticipation!  I especially liked the musical performance by American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks:

I had an all access pass, so it was really fun to roam around and check out all of the excitement!!   I was especially impressed with all of the staging and lighting.  The background screen was awesome!!  Giant pictures of Ronald Reagan were displayed while Newt and Callista Gingrich spoke, but far and away, the neatest backdrop was for Clint Eastwood!!!!  His speech and the empty chair bit has received a great deal of attention, but for me, the highlight was that awesome Dirty Harry silhouette backdrop as he walked on stage!

The main event of course, was when Governor Mitt Romney took the stage to formally accept the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America.  I took a few pictures of him from the floor level, then a picture of the Romney/Ryan sign from the stairs up to the second level, and finally reached the ceiling to capture the balloon drop at the end of the speech.  It was so much fun to photograph!!