Mark Tucker

Pre-Debate Obama Rally, 10/7/08: Two Portraits

Posted in Uncategorized by marktucker on October 9, 2008
Obama supporter, (and button maker).

Obama supporter, and button maker. (click to enlarge).

Child with Mother. Corner of 21st Avenue and Magnolia.

Child with Mother. Corner of 21st Avenue and Magnolia. (click to enlarge).

22 comments

22 Responses

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  1. jonathan canlas said, on October 9, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    man that first shot is out of this world…

  2. seattle editorial photographer said, on October 9, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Its so great to see you shooting film again. i love the way that girls face is sandwiched between the 2 Obamas. It flows.

  3. Pre-Debate Obama Rally, 10/7/08: Two Portraits said, on October 9, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    [...] Original post by marktucker [...]

  4. vanderleun said, on October 9, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    Top shot is instant Arbus with all that implies.

  5. marktucker said, on October 9, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    REPLY TO VANDERLEUN: I was just waiting for this Arbus comment. Truth be known, I damn near didn’t ask this kid if I could shoot a frame, due to the Arbus image! I don’t know if your comment is positive or negative, but it did do a head-trip on me when I saw the kid in the crowd — there he was, with a great face, great freckles, and a zillion buttons on his shirt — everything about him said “Oh my god, he’s the best one to photograph”, but there was still that weird Arbus thing in my head: “Should I shoot it?”

    Like anyone should, I think — shoot the picture now, and deal with it later, when you’ve got your senses about you, and you’ve thought about it. Thank God he’s holding a modern SLR; maybe that de-Arbusizes it a tad bit!

    For what it’s worth, here’s a link to “Boy With Straw Hat, Button, 1967″:

    http://tinyurl.com/4j4na9

  6. Troy said, on October 9, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    Maybe the 2 best Tucker images ever shown together. AMAZING.

  7. Wayne said, on October 9, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Optimistic and a little creepy at the same time. Great.

  8. Paul said, on October 9, 2008 at 11:47 pm

    mark, i love that first frame…that is timeless…a promotional mailing perhaps?

  9. Jon said, on October 10, 2008 at 2:25 am

    The mojo overflows again. Superb!

  10. Jon Roemer said, on October 10, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Two stunning images Mark. Arbus came to mind for me, too, especially with the first image. That’s positive, not negative. It’s Arbus’esque.

    Maybe I have a different perspective. My kids love wearing their Obama-wear. They’re into it and invested in it on their own. Some of the buttons they wear they’ve made. So, to me the first image doesn’t have Arbus’ otherness or weirdness. That could be one of my kids if you added a few more buttons and a hat.

    Both images have the Tucker humanity driving them.

  11. Russell Kaye said, on October 10, 2008 at 9:17 am

    you can’t do that with an eos…enjoying your blog…may the digital backlash pick up speed…

  12. Drayke Larson said, on October 10, 2008 at 10:56 am

    Both shots are wonderful, but that first image is just amazing. If it weren’t for the camera in his hand and the fact that it’s Obama on the merchandise, I’d swear this was from a different age.

    Well captured!

  13. Gordon McGregor said, on October 10, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    as everyone else has said – love the first shot, particularly for his expression and the guy in the background. Like the play of the t-shirts in the second.

  14. william said, on October 11, 2008 at 7:51 am

    I’ve been trying to think of something to add to the other comments, something learned or clever. I can’t. Those are just great images and the reason I come to this blog.

  15. Olivier said, on October 11, 2008 at 10:17 am

    deux beaux portraits, avec une ‘légère’ préférence pour la première, qui est vraiment très réussie, c’est un ‘enfant’ sandwich à la cause d’Obama ;o). La France rêve de la victoire d’Obama.
    two beautiful portraits, with a ’slight’ preference for first, which is very successful, it is a ‘Child’ sandwich in caused Obama ;o). France dream of victory to Obama

  16. kristen roedner said, on October 11, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    amazing shots, mark. your work is unparalleled.

  17. kristen roedner said, on October 11, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    i love that you share them big, too. so many other photogs keep their images small and it’s hard to see and easy to miss the details. these are just gorgeous!! do you get model releases from all your subjects?

  18. marktucker said, on October 12, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    NOTE: Check out this Gerhard Vanderleun guy:

    http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/american_studies/suffer_little_c.php

    All I can say: It’s a big world out there, and lots of different opinions and visions of the world. (Was that politically correct enough?)

    Anything related to one of my pictures, with any kind of a Bible verse remotely connected to it just creeps me out, but hey, it’s a free country.

  19. Tamara said, on October 12, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    Your reply to Vauderleun answered mine. We can’t help be influenced by the greats that went before. It is a good image to store in your head. and shoot anyway.

  20. Colin Pantall said, on October 13, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    Great images, Mark – I checked out the Vauderleun site and your reply is really what I hope your election and Obama is about – it’s a big world with lots of different opinions and we should all be free to state them unless they are obscene, offensive or, as Vauderleun has it, they “exceed… the stupidity limits”.

    Better stop there.

  21. vanderleun said, on October 13, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    Well, as I said quite clearly to Mark in an email exchange, the bible verse is used as an epigraph to the entire essay and has no relation to him whatsoever. No such connection was intended or even imagined. If it had been, there are probably a host of scriptural aspersions that could be applied, as there are to just about anything, but not being a religious man at all I’d have to look them up.

  22. Learning to See - FWB’s (Friends with Blogs) said, on October 24, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    [...] blog finds he can go home again.  Be sure not to miss The Tiny Great Wizard and his Pre-Debate Obama Rally [...]


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