RENESCAPE THE GENIUS OF CHARLES OMMANNEY

HOME    REVIVAL   RENEGADE   REVIEWS    JOURNALISM   OTHER BOOKS   ARCHIVE   EMAIL   BIO

 
 

Charles is quite simply the best photographer I have ever worked with, in two decades of print in magazines and newspapers. He is an original who finds art and magic in the dull repetition of political theater. You can spot an Ommanney photo almost as quickly as you can spot Charles at a campaign rally. He’s the one with the shaggy hair looking in the opposite direction to all the other photographers and reporters.


Charles’ photos bring life to this site and grace the jacket of Renegade.  We wanted to print a selection of his campaign photos inside the book, but either the cost would have been prohibitive, or the quality would have been miserable. So we’re left with what’s on show here.


Fuller descriptions of the photos are at the bottom of this page. Except for the final three photos, all the photos below are copyrighted to Charles Ommanney and cannot be reproduced without permission. Enjoy.

 
 
Michelle Obama, Iowa 2007 In the summer of 2007, at a time when the great political minds in Washington had written off the Obama campaign, you could catch the future first lady at a garden party in Iowa, talking to a couple of dozen voters. The crowds were younger and more diverse than the typical house party audiences. And they showed up no matter how stiflingly hot the weather, as it was on this day in late June. The heat was so intense that Mrs Obama kicked off her Jimmy Choos and delivered her pitch barefoot. People often ask why I thought the Obama campaign was going to win in 2007. My answer was always: Iowa. You couldn’t understand what was going on unless you spent time there. JULY 4TH WEEKEND, Iowa 2007 More Iowa? You bet. The Obamas spent almost an entire year campaigning there: twice the time they spent traveling the country through the extended primary season, and three times more than they spent through the general election. It was a more unguarded, intimate time. And the family got to spend the occasional weekend together, as they did on this July 4th, when the crossed the state in a small RV and celebrated Malia’s birthday. These Ommanney photos are some of my favorites of the two-year election. THE FINAL DAYS OF Iowa, JANUARY 2008 How it all ended in Iowa and began everywhere else. A late decision about whether or not to accept John Kerry’s endorsement; on Obama’s bus the night before the caucuses; and moments before walking on stage to deliver his first victory speech of the 2008 campaign. Our time for change has come, as he said. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, JANUARY 2008 How it all ended in Iowa and began everywhere else. A late decision about whether or not to accept John Kerry’s endorsement; on Obama’s bus the night before the caucuses; and moments before walking on stage to deliver his first victory speech of the 2008 campaign. Our time for change has come, as he said. PENNSYLVANIA DEATH MARCH, APRIL 2008 He called it the Bataan death march, which was only half a joke. The Pennsylvania primary dragged on for six weeks and the campaign knew it was doomed. The demographics of the state, especially in age, spelled disaster. Then came Reverend Wright and his sermon videos. Along the way, there were economic roundtable events (with Michelle sneaking a peek through a window), plenty of door-to-door visits, endless bus journeys, and prep sessions before rallies. It all came to naught. EUROPEAN TOUR, JULY 2008 After a weird early summer transition to presumptive nominee (see Vero Possumus - the fake Latin seal; the friendship tour with Hillary Clinton; and the fist-bump fiasco), the European and Middle Eastern tour was a resetting of the clock. It was audacious - even reckless - to try to pull off such a trip at the height of a presidential election, with little logistical support and the world’s media in tow. But they pulled it off with a giant crowd in Berlin, and a flawless series of press conferences across the world. Now Obama can travel with the help of his embassies and foreign governments; back then, it was just a plane and some exceptional advance staff. CONVENTION TIME, AUGUST 2008 If the foreign tour was a big opportunity to hit the reset button, the convention was even bigger. First came the Biden pick and some genuine bonding between the Bidens and Obamas backstage in Springfield, Illinois. Then came the intensive, exhaustive work on the acceptance speech, with the ridiculously high bar of trying to better the 2004 speech which launched a certain Illinois state senator onto the national stage. And after it was over, backstage in the bowels of Mile High stadium in Denver, the relief and happiness was visible on the face of everyone close to the candidate. Especially David Axelrod. THE HOME STRETCH, OCTOBER 2008 The final sprint was a blur of big crowds, brief family reunions, and enough of those big rallies to delight Hillary Clinton for another primary season. To be honest, it was hard to know where one event ended and another began. The only good thing about this period, at least compared to other elections, is that the battleground was wide, covering far more places with far more diversity than the usual half-dozen Rust Belt states. THE LAST 24 HOURS, NOVEMBER 2008 Time seemed to slow in the last 24 hours. There was the sad news of the passing of Obama’s grandmother, followed by the strangest weather - rain, steam and tears together. This last rally in Manassas, Virginia, was a monstrous 100,000 crowd, who heard the story of Fired Up! Ready to Go! just one more time. It would be a day later, on an unseasonably warm night in Grant Park, Chicago, before another giant crowd greeted the same man, who had just turned into the president-elect. OTHER PHOTOS Many thanks to Emmanuel Dunand of AFP for the plane photo, taken on my birthday; to Pete Souza of the White House for the Oval Office photo; and to Callie Shell for the tarmac photo.