So I have to go back more than a month here, but the last month of Sept and the first week of October were a crazy blur. After coming home from the NYC wedding, I received an email from Phong Doan who happens to be on the same Leica User list as me. He's emailing to know if I could come to NYC to photograph the Dalai Lama. What??? Holy.......! Um, yes! Let me know when I have to be there! This is 4 days after I got home from NYC, so now I'm going back to NYC, and staying across the street from the hotel we just stayed at. Of course this time I'm staying in the same hotel as the Dalai Lama, while the previous week I was at the same hotel as Ahmadinejad so I'd say this was step up in the right direction.
Just before I flew up I found out I'll be photographing with Kyle Cassidy, Tina Manley and Emanuel Lowi. Oh yeah, we've got this covered for sure!
The event reminded me allot of capturing a wedding, but with much more security. Lots of waiting, lots running around, all good fun.
Highlight for me was getting to shake the Dalai Lama's hand. Kyle and I were shooting him as he came into the Waldorf to meet the Vietnamese Community, The Six Paramitas, who was sponsoring the event. So after discussing the arrival with security, we would shoot the DL as he came in and then back off once he headed for the elevators. Problem was there were about 50 people in one small hallway so it was impossible to back off after shooting. So here comes the Dalai Lama headed to the elevator and he shakes my hand!
Slideshow link - http://www.zoeicaimages.com/DalaiLama2009/
