Shooting the Texas Libertarian Party Convention... couple semi famous faces in my portfolio now....

   So, answered an add in craigslist a few weeks ago, the Texas Libertarian Party was looking for photographers to cover their convention, which happened this past weekend here in San Antonio. I guess America actually has more than two parties... who knew? While spending a weekend listening to people discussing politics isn't really my idea of a good time, they offered a decent incentive package, including food and booze, so basically they had my number. I also figured it would be a good chance to get some practice at shooting more photojournalistic style stuff. As such, the images you see in this post are the straight out of camera JPEGs, which is something completely different from my usual work flow where only edited images ever see the light of day. All were imported, captioned, keyworded, culled and sorted via photomechanic and uploaded to the client (the party) as well as some news outlets in hopes of getting some shots picked up (more on this later) within an hour of the debate conclusion.

  I did a little research, and it looked like at least two people with fairly well known names would be at the convention and take part in the debate. The first, Gary Johnson, was a former Governor of New Mexico, former Ironman Triathlete and has summited Mount Everest. Pretty interesting guy.

  Then there was the big name, John McAfee.

   Yeah, That McAfee. You probably have had some of his anti-virus software on your system at one point or another. Often in the news for questionable life decisions, all of which he pretty handily addressed during his remarks. Also recently in the news for commentary on the Apple vs. FBI legal scenario.

  Anyway, I took the gig figuring it would be a good time and maybe I would be able to sell a few shots to some news outlets. That didn't seem to happen. If there is a secret out there to breaking into the photojournalism arena, I haven't found it yet. Most outlets don't even seem to have a readily accessible path to submit work. If they do, it's a "public eye" sort of thing for people to post their cell phone photos of traffic accidents and the like. Put a few feelers out there, didn't get anything back. Oh well, guess I'll put them on a few stock sites as editorial use and hope for the best.

  Anyway, the Libertarians were quite a mixed bag. The main thing that impressed me was that they all seemed to get along with each other, and the debate was entirely civil, even when they disagreed with each other on points. The party as a whole seemed to fold in a great number of other groups, some of which I support, some of which I am mixed on. I didn't realize they were so big on the open carry movement. Since getting established in Texas I have obtained my carry permit, and quite frequently carry a weapon, but I prefer to carry concealed. If I am ever in a situation where I need a weapon, I want it to be a surprise to the other involved party that I have it. I chose not to take my weapon with me to the convention because it would be a pita to add to all the camera gear I would be carrying anyway and I figured there would be ample security. As a result, I think I wound up being one of the few unarmed people in the room, which isn't a feeling I like too much, mostly because I know enough about history to not trust large groups of marginalized citizenry. Note to self- get a holster insert for my camera bag.....

  On the other hand, there were families,

  And even some LGBTQ representation....

 Overall it was an interesting time. I am not sure I was convinced to vote for any of the Libertarian candidates, but I am damn sure that if I had to pick a party to party with or hang out with for a beer or three, they would totally win. (to be fair, Obama and Trudeau are tops on on the list of politicians I'd have a beer with list and they aren't libertarians) But I was definitely impressed by the respectful tone of the debate and the diverse spectrum of people who come together under the libertarian banner. It was time well spent, and even though I haven sold any of the images yet, I'll give the experience two thumbs up.

  And in an ironic coincidence, I spent a lot of the rest of this weekend dealing with a DDOS attack against my router... maybe I should have asked McAfee for assistance?