Campaign Photogs Launch Website Of Personal Favorites

As the 2004 presidential campaign came to a close, several photographers who had covered Senator John Kerry's failed presidential bid were sitting around plotting their next moves and trying to soak in all they had seen and done. Someone, probably David Burnett, commented that the group should create a Web site to showcase their favorite campaign moments.

That Web site has finally been created.

Don't Photo, as it's called (it's a long story, which Burnett explains here), brings together the personal favorites of some of the best photographers working the political beat: Stephen Crowley, Jay L. Clendenin, CJ Gunther, Gerald Herbert, Kenneth Jarecke, Nancy Lee, Michael Robinson-Chavez, Dina Rudick, Brian Snyder, Pete Souza, Justin Sullivan, Andrea Bruce Woodall and Jim Young.

Search the site and you'll find classic (and sometimes bizarre) moments like Souza's picture of a man, seemingly oblivious that his pants have fallen to his ankles, waiting to shake hands with Kerry.

Gunther and Snyder built the site, which is well worth a quick tour (just skip the silly Flash intro). Burnett says it best in his opening essay:

"As photographers, spending months on the road with the candidates, the staff, the Secret Service, and each other, creates a certain bond, a camaraderie. And when it's all over, no matter who the winner, we all find a little nostalgia for the late nights on the plane, the freezing mornings in the van, the scathing heat of a sweaty summer event. The campaigns are over now, but the images live on. Enjoy these photographs as they represent the favorites of the people who created them."

http://dontfoto.no-ip.com