Looking Back, Election Day 2009

Looking Back

The enormity of what happened on November 4, 2009 didn’t hit me until the middle of the night as I sat on a couch downloading my photographs at the home of my friend Denise Keim. Days later, back home in Texas, I felt the change that was coming and felt the wheels of time preparing to engage. In Chicago, though, all of my emotions were buried as I did my work.

I arrived on the Thursday before the election to get a feel for the place and I began taking pictures. I photographed the stillness in the energy of the city as Chicago waited with bated breath. I continued doing my work until just after Election Day. The euphoria and the
wonder of those few days surrounding Obama’s election was a wonderful thing to see.

“I couldn’t stop crying.” I would hear or see this over and over again from one conversation to another with friends who called or text from all over the world. Change is a feisty thing that moves within its own time frame.

People were feeling hope and wanted the “Change” immediately after the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. It was a special time in history for all Americans and the rest of the world. History will have an interesting time looking back and when it does – I believe that it will feel good about what happened inside those days. And the beat moves on.

Eli Reed