Scene on the Road

As always, whenever history is being made, and I am at home watching it unfold on television, I end up looking wherever I can - the web, newsstand, supermarket checkout line - to see what pictures other photographers have shot, and wonder which one is the image I'll always associate with the event.

I think I just saw the one for Election Night 2008.

This wonderful image of Americans listening to President-elect Obama's victory speech was shot by Matt Mendelsohn on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial - the site of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech."

There's nothing like seeing a powerful photo, especially one so simple and real.

As Matt said on his blog, "I've witnessed a lot of big news events in the last twenty-three years but this may have been the most honest little moment I've ever been part of."

He was watching the election returns, but then got tired of looking at it on TV, so before Obama took the stage, he drove into Washington. But instead of joining the crowds at the White House, Matt decided to go to the Lincoln Memorial instead. There he found less than two dozen people just listening to a transistor radio.

It's the kind of photo any photographer could have shot. On this historic night, only one photographer even thought about making it.

You can buy a print at Matt's website, in either B&W or color.