Why I'm not a photojournalist

In the first place, it took me almost three months to offload the pictures I took when Hillary Clinton showed up at the place where I was eating breakfast one peaceful Saturday.

In the second place, I wasn't expecting a Famous Person to interrupt my enjoyment of bacon and hashbrowns, so I didn't have a decent camera, just my cell phone.

In the third place, whenever you hear the words "media throng", you'd better believe it. It was insane.

It was early December. Oprah was in town, campaigning for Barack Obama, which of course had the media wetting themselves with excitement. Hillary had her mother and daughter with her for the weekend, hoping to grab their own slice of the "Hey, girl" demographic. I was interviewed by a CNN stringer who asked me how Oprah's endorsement of Obama influenced me, an undecided female. Umm, not at all. I work for a living, so I never see Oprah. I'm more influenced by the gal in the next cubicle at the office. She lives near me and votes in the same precinct and goes to the same caucus. We've known each other for years, so I listen to what she has to say about candidates. Oh, and she's not a multibajillionaire trying to convince me that her problems are just like mine.

Hillary...


Chelsea...


and Mother Rodham.

I got better pictures once they stepped away from the windows and into the fabulous lighting of the professional TV cameras. Unfortunately, they were looking the other way.