Belmont, MA 030612 Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney voted alongside his wife Anne Romney at the Beech Street Center in Belmont, MA which Romney lists as his permanent address. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/ MET BEHIND THE SCENES: Candidates like Romney move around with an entourage of media, public relations personnel and campaign staffers. A lot of times it is these staffers who make the calls as far as who do they let in to an event or not. Such was the case yesterday. The traveling media was allowed in before he arrived and I was told to wait outside until they made a "decision." Romney walked in and at the last minute I called out to the staffer and asked, "so you are just leaving the Boston Globe out?" He kind of looked at me sideways and said, "Follow me." By the time I got in all the front spots on the small stage where members of the media had been told to stand were already taken. I squeezed in a corner and hoped for the best. I managed to get the shots but the Globe decided to go with an AP photo instead. The photographer who made the photo is part of tight-pool traveling the campaign. Pretty much the same photo only his was taken from five feet to the left of my position... I don't make the calls, I just take them. TECH STUFF: 70-200mm 2.8 and 16-35mm 2.8, WB AWB and Cloudy, ISO 1250-640.
Melrose, MA 032912 Girls practice at the Melrose Family YMCA during a gymnastics class. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe) BEHIND THE SCENES: I had about 20 minutes to get about five images for our North Weekly section. I was truly bummed out because it was about 50 girls of all ages doing somersaults, handstands, beam work and bars all at once. The scene just begged to be shot for a while but 20 minutes is all I had since they needed me back in the city for a man-on the street interview. I chose these two images because they characterized the mayhem in the place. At first glance the scene looked downright chaotic but then a coach would clap their hands and the girls would all fall into place. Pretty amazing. INTERESTING NOTE: Whenever I'm teaching a photography workshop I always try to tell my students to not only make the photos they have in front of them but to take the time to look behind them to see what is going on. I almost walked away after photographing some girls doing back flips but I remembered that maxim and stopped and looked around and this is what I got. TECH STUFF: Pretty dark place but I still did not want to use a flash. ISO 1,600 to 2,000, WB: AWB, speeds: 1/125th to 1/2ooth of a second.
