looks a little tired..

He looks very tired - can't imagine his brain ever gets the chance to be still

and yes I'm sure you have been running on adrenalin too!

And looking rather thin, in the third & last particularly.

He wants to be careful leaving the US... some embittered republicans in the Homeland Security service might not let him back in!

With the unholy legacy he inherited, I'm not surprised he looks so tired. Great shots, last one faved, and you sneak some rest in, D, even if the prez can't.

:-)

great closing shot to this set

An incredibly stressful job, being a head of state. I remember seeing an article once showing beginning of presidency / end of presidency comparison photos for a few past presidents. The job ages people a lot.

Recent headline in The Onion was "Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job". Given the mess he has to clean up, no wonder he looks tired.

Great series of shots. I'm particularly fond of the last one. :)

Great series. You got really close then?

He is still very handsome tho!! ;)

I guess even presidents can suffer from jetlag? Great shots. Were you in the front row?

Great Captures!!!! I'm glad you posted these. :-)

Great Dhamaka!!!

wow!

awesome work made me grin from ear to ear!

Nice one!

Good shots! I like!
crickson's comment was a nice one.
Agree with sprocket and lyzardly.

What an experience that must have been to be close to so many influential and powerful people. Thanks for being our voice.

Thank you everyone for your comments, compliments and supporting me. It's not over yet - I wasn't able to get anywhere near as many messages or photos out as I wanted so will be continuing for a while

crickson, taniwha - hahaha

Viv - indeed although one of the other bloggers is far 'worse' than me. Think 'running on adrenalin', 'smoker', 'diet coke', 'hyper'(in the nicest possible way), '24-hour worker' and then add a non-stop drip feed of caffeine from diet coke and red bull, add 'dynamo', 'together', 'rapid-fire' and 'friendly' and you''ll begin to get the idea..

Caine - I thought I would today but I've spent the day with some of the bloggers who elected to stay in London for the weekend. They're such great company that even though I'm on my own now I've not yet started feeling tired!

Sprocket - thank you, I was pleased with it

rhys, Cariadus - really close. The photographers got to make a line in between the stage (maybe 2-3 meters) from the podium. I was pretty close to central on this one (because I stood in line for about an hour and a half - a difficult choice since it meant I couldn't cover other heads of state who came on while I was queuing). He walked in and we start shooting but we're expected to sit down on the floor one he stops walking so that the audience can see him too.

to your unspoken question, his secret service protectors were there - if you looked for them - but apart from one or two (who were friendly but efficient) they were very unobtrusive. Something I've been told is not usual for such an event.

Kozika San - domo arigato gozaimasu..
:)
u fu fu
x


It really was a wonderful experience. Difficult still to describe properly. An honour - yes. A huge responsibility. Incredibly challenging to balance getting the shots, building the stories and posting them (and deciding what not to include during the event and what to post after it) and one of the biggest adrenaline highs I've ever experienced

There is more to come though - please continue to watch this space

D- there's a whole essay just in these photos. You really have to admire a man prepared to take on what he has yaken on. Thanks for sharing such deeply felt insights.

thanks hotdog and JEsson
there are so many stories to tell

did I say thank you for the HL?
:)

Wow D - I've been off line all week so only just catching up -huge responsibility but one that appears to have sat well on your shoulder's, & his!! He appears to have this air of quite confidence - which you've captured. I love the last image. QSSx

:)

WOw

:)

thanks to whoever got rid of that troll

Chav Bling Bling

Thank you for your comment but one of the mods has deleted it. I don't blame them and would have done so myself if I had got here first.

I appreciate that you have strong feelings about President Obama and I would be happy to keep a post of yours up here provided that you are civil about the way you express yourself and that you don't swear.

It's not just that children look at my blogs - which would be enough - but also that the firewalls of the businesses where many of my friends work will automatically block content which includes those same words