Chicago Sun-Times photo by John H. White

A Front-Row Ticket to History
When Barack Obama chose Chicago’s Grant Park as the setting for his November 4, 2008, election-night rally, he inadvertently provided some Columbia College Chicago students with the teaching moment of a lifetime. Photography student Jody Warner (’11) was, we think, the only student photojournalist in the world on the media stand that night, shooting alongside professionals from around the world. Pablo Martinez Monsivais (’94), who has been photographing the President for the Associated Press for a decade, was there too. And out in the crowd were dozens more, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Sun-Times photographer John H. White, who has taught photojournalism at Columbia for 30 years.

“To think, it was in the front yard of Columbia College Chicago,” says White, “the same spot we do photographic drills, training, assignments that prepare [students] for night shooting, moments flying by, motion, action, people moving. All these assignments prepare them; I think that’s the reason you see those moments as they are—so powerful and so accurate and so pure. There was no dress rehearsal, no second chance, this was the real thing.”

We asked White and some of his students, former and current, to show us what they shot that night.

Photographers featured: Natalie Battaglia, Amanda Bose, Michael Bracey, Laurel A. Culbert, Alberto Galarza, Rick Havilk, Michael Jarecki, Tasos Katopodis, Penny Lawrence, Cory Minkanic, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Sharon McAllister, Mike Sendra, Bonnie Trafelet, Jody Warner, and John H. White.

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Natalie Battaglia

Chicago native Natalie Battaglia is a staff photojournalist at The Times of Northwest Indiana since 1998. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 1997, where she served as a staff photographer and photo editor for the Columbia Chronicle. She says of the event, "I was not in Grant Park on Election Day. I work full-time for The Times of Northwest Indiana and I spent the evening photographing reaction of our local residents in Gary."

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Amanda Bose

Amanda Bose is a photography major at Columbia College Chicago, class of 2009.

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Michael Bracey

Michael Bracey received an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia in 1997. He is a member of the Chicago Alliance of African-American Photographers (CAAAP).

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Laurel A. Culbert

"It was amazing being in Grant Park on election night, a once in a lifetime historic event. Even though this photo is blurry I really like the motion the flag depicts. The entire evening was in motion, a joyful dance towards history and hope."

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Alberto Galarza

"My husband, Alberto Galarza, got downtown around noon when the crowd was just beginning to gather. I joined him around 4:30 p.m. coming from the suburbs. I had to run all the way from Union Station because they were starting to let people in and I had our ticket. I arrived just in time completely out of breath and red faced. I nudged and excused myself through the people lined up to get inside to my husband who was waving his arms. Despite the long wait to get in the mood was electric.

"Thanks to Al's perseverance in standing in line we were able to get spots about four rows behind the barricades separating the average crowd from the VIPs. We had to go through metal detectors and baggage searches. We had to stand for over eight hours shoulder to shoulder like at a rock concert, but the tears and hugging and the overwhelming sense of joy and hope from the crowd made every aching muscle insignificant. This moment lives in history and we were there to witness it. A Jumbotron and enormous speaker blasted the results state by state. The crowd erupted in bursts of cheers and applause for every state called for Obama. By the time Ohio was announced we knew it was clenched but no one wanted to say anything. It wasn't over until it was over.

"And then they called it. I cried with a big smile on my face. Al and I kissed passionately; our hope and relief overfilled us with emotion. Everyone around us was hugging and crying—even complete strangers! The applause was thunderous. We hugged Hola and Melissa, a couple that I had met at Biden's announcement in Springfield who just happened to be standing by us that night. It was like the stars and moon were aligned. When the bishop quoted Martin Luther King Jr., I felt how much we had matured as a nation. I said the pledge of allegiance and stood for the National Anthem for the first time since before the Iraq war began. My boycott was over. This day I felt like an American again." —April Galarza

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Rick Havilk

Rick Havlik is a photography major at Columbia, class of 2009.

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Michael Jarecki

Michael Jarecki (B.A. '06) is a freelance photographer based in Chicago.

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Tasos Katopodis

Tasos Katopodis earned a B.A. in photography in 2004.

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Penny Lawrence

"Covering the election that night was an amazing experience for me. I felt the presence of love that night, the spirit of unity and peace. I witnessed all people of different backgrounds and nationalities coming together as one on a mission for change with hope in their eyes. It was like Martin Luther King Jr. said, that night I felt like I had been to the mountaintop and I had seen the promised land. It gave me hope." —Penny Lawrence (B.A. '94)

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Corey Minkanic

Corey Minkanic earned a B.A. in photography in 2004.

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Pablo Martinez Monsivais

"For the last 10 years I've been a staff photographer at the Associated Press Washington Bureau, covering the Office of the President of the United States. This was one of the most amazing events I have ever had the privilege to cover in my professional career! I could not believe I was watching the election of the first African-American President of the United States. It was truly a magical night that I was able to record with my camera so that the whole world can see and share in it. That night I kept remembering a John H. White quote: 'Photojournalism is a front-row ticket to history.' He told this to my PJ I class in spring semester of 1991, and I didn't understand it back then, but on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I understood what he meant." —Pablo Martinez Monsivais (B.A. '94).

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Sharon McAllister

"It was a spectacular, unseasonably warm evening. We took the kids (Clara, 6, and Adrian, 3) out at 5:00, but it was still pretty quiet along the park. The press seemed to outnumber pedestrians 2 to 1. It was truly adorable when a couple of young men interviewed the girls and Clara said, 'I like Obama, because he's against litter!' Who can argue with that?

"We stayed out for about an hour, then met up with my husband, Jason, for dinner at a hotel where our friends were staying. We watched TV in the restaurant as the first polls closed. I knew McCain would look good at first but fall way behind over time. I kept my eye on Indiana, because I had canvassed twice in Michigan City, and I was ready to take partial credit if it turned blue (great experiences, by the way ... the second time I was canvassing with a guy who went to Harvard Law with Obama, and truly believed in him as a person, a leader, a colleague, and a fellow competitor on the basketball court!). In case you didn't hear -- blue is the new red, Indiana!

"I couldn't wait to get back out to the park. From the hotel window, you could see that the line to get into the ticketed area was blocks long. People were filtering in from every direction. We knew the kids wouldn't last the night out there, so Jason took them home in a cab. Then I was on my own. There was some talk of meeting up with others, but as soon as I got into the thick of the crowd, I knew I'd be surrounded by strangers for the rest of the night. I didn't have a ticket to see the speech, but there was a huge overflow area set up with jumboscreens tuned to CNN. Security was a quick pass-through, and I never saw any foul play. No alcohol, no wild abandon. Just a joyful, sober crowd.

"I was through the gate by 8:30, and things were looking good for Obama by then. We knew he had it by 9:00, with 207 electoral votes and the West Coast guaranteed. The crowd was energized, but it seemed like a long wait for the polls to close. Then, at 10:00: BARACK OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT!

"President-elect Obama came out, and the crowd roared. We hung on every line like a rock concert. We celebrated our presence in history. We saw Jesse Jackson in tears, and the applause became reverent; an acknowledgment of one who paved the way. His expression that night was the embodiment, the context, of that moment in history. He said later that while he was caught up in the magnificence of Obama's victory, he began to remember everyone who didn't make it to that day, who could not be there to witness that night.

"And then it was over. As soon as Obama and Biden brought their families out, the crowd turned toward home. But I lingered on the way out. By the time I got to Michigan Avenue, the street was a river of contentment. Just joy and satisfaction. Proud Americans -- some, yes, for the first time. All shades of human race. All the faces of the big city that on an ordinary day would remind me of so many disparate paths and cultures and frames of reference, and sometimes so little to join us -- were bonded that night with a permeating sense of rightness and truth. We did right by our country. We did right by ourselves. We let hope be our guide."

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Mike Sendra

"Being in the crowd that night, you could actually feel the spirit of the event. When photographing an event, you are constantly looking, searching for frames that try to capture the mood, sounds, feel and experience. Capturing the enormous crowd is equally as important as finding the smallest details that all play together to give the viewer the actual feel of the event. As a photojournalist you must be nonpartisan, but there is an overwhelming wave of emotion that hits you as you witness thousands of people coming together for something so deep to their hearts." —Mike Sendra (B.F.A. '06)

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Bonnie Trafelet

"My involvement on election night was limited because I was shooting from an upper hotel room in the Blackstone Hotel. I shot overviews and was waiting for Obama to walk on stage with his family. I had maybe several seconds because the Secret Service blocked the view of the podium with a crane. It was hard shooting through the glass windows and a lot of waiting around for one moment in time. But that's what photographing presidents is all about. A lot of waiting around for a few moments. I much prefer photographing ordinary people but it was very exciting being able to be a small part of history ... from a distance. I had to listen to the speech later on TV because I couldn't hear it through the glass windows, which did not open. I don't think it hit until the next day how big that night was." —Bonnie Trafelet (B.A. '95) is a photographer for the Chicago Tribune. See their full election night gallery.

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Jody Warner

"Having media credentials for the Obama rally as a college photographer was nothing short of a miracle. The general manager of the Columbia Chronicle managed to get a photographer's media pass two days before the rally. I stood next to photographers from every corner of the globe and from every major media outlet on the planet. I had the confidence to photograph the event based on the guidance of John H. White, my photojournalism instructor for three semesters. His instruction creates the belief that our images will change the world." —Jody Warner, photography major, class of 2011.

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John H. White

"The election-night moment was a 'oneness.' Now the tents are down, the balloons are down, the 'Obama/Biden' banners are down, and traffic is moving. But those images are just as alive today as they were on November 4. And a moment that was really significant and great then will remain great in history." —John H. White, faculty, Columbia College Chicago; staff photographer, Chicago Sun-Times.