Our Man In New Hampshire #5b: Mill Worker Mission

This is the sixth in a 72-hour series of campaign dispatches from photojournalist and BNN Contributer Alan Chin.  These shots were taken between two events, one Saturday and the other Sunday.


(Click for larger size)

Meetings in the round --with everyone sitting close, on the same level -- has been a hallmark of the Edwards campaign.  Come the last day before the primary, however (and, potentially, JE's last day of presidential viability), the circle is more compressed than before.

On the phone, Alan confirms the intensity, and adds a few details.  The audiences at the two meetings are primarily working class people.  Also, the candidate is traveling with the largest entourage on the trail.  It includes his father and mother (second photo); the family of Nataline Sarkisyan, the woman who died because her Insurance company wouldn't approve a liver transplant; and James Lowe, who couldn't speak for 50 years because he didn't have the insurance to correct a cleft palate.

As part of the presentation, many of these people offer testimonials.

Because of the intensity of the images above, I almost didn't include these last two (and I wonder about the effect if I hadn't).  With Edwards -- if strictly for the fact he's a politician (leaving aside, for one thankful moment, any other baggage) -- one can be powerfully pulled between man and message.

Next Up: Hillary

(All images courtesy Alan Chin.  Concord, New Hampshire.  January 5, 2007  Used by permission)

Comments

[Noe Celino]

Alan Chin is pretty good. Does he have a website?

[Don Helsing]

The black and white images look awesome. Is he using Tri-X?

[da5id]

This is an absolutely fantastic series. Keep up the good work.

[maddashell-womaninj]

So glad to see this photos of J Edwards in action. I love and respect this man. Thank you so much for taking these up close shots of the campaign. I wish we could get the general media to reflect what true hard working Americans' needs are. That need is John Edwards.

[Cactus]

It's nice to see Edwards' parents there. He's actually my choice so far, but I'm beginning to get nervous when he talks about Sarkisyan et al., as he apparently does in every speech. It's getting to be a bit creepy, like he is using them. Then it does recall good ole Ron and his stories. If it is turning off a supporter, it must have a detrimental effect on others he is trying to win over. Time to stop.

[alan chin]

don, some technical notes for you: not tri-x but the ilford equivalent, HP-5, essentially the same thing. processed in HC-110 developer, and scanned on a Nikon LS4000. there are now ways in photoshop to convert digital images to B+W and make it look kind of like tri-x, but i think that's cheating, don't you?

noe, thank you, there are links to the right here, there are galleries of my work at lightstalkers, at pixelpress, at sasha wolf gallery, and of course right here at the BAG.