James Brosher Photography

Portfolio website for James Brosher, a Bloomington, Indiana based editorial and wedding photographer specializing in action, documentary, and portrait images.

My embarrassing photo moment

Watching a YouTube video of a wedding photographer backpedal into a fountain the other day reminded me of one of my most embarrassing moments. A couple years ago Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University. At one point I got in front of him in the infield of the track, about 8 feet away from him and backpedaled to get him in the frame with a long 70-200 lens. I didn’t realize there was a chair directly behind me and – yep you guessed it – I went down. Even better: I have a shot of him pointing at the chair (second frame down). I guess I can tell my grandchildren that as a journalist I stood toe to toe with Obama … before falling over a chair in front of him. I recovered and got a couple decent shots out of the day (last two shots).

Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., watches pace laps with Indiana University Student Foundation director Jenny Bruffey, right, before the start of the women's Little 500 bicycle race on Friday, April 11, 2008, at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Obama walked around the track and greeted each team before the race.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., watches pace laps with Indiana University Student Foundation director Jenny Bruffey, right, before the start of the women's Little 500 bicycle race on Friday, April 11, 2008, at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Obama walked around the track and greeted each team before the race.
Fans take pictures of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., before the start of the Women's Little 500 bicycle race Friday, April 11, 2008, at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Obama made a surprise visit to town and stayed for the opening laps of the race.
Fans take pictures of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., before the start of the Women's Little 500 bicycle race Friday, April 11, 2008, at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Obama made a surprise visit to town and stayed for the opening laps of the race.

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  1. Alex Garcia says

    Hilarious! You even got a picture of him pointing at the chair before you went down. It’s good that we can look at these things with a sense of humor about it…