Stephan Savoia glowed about the picture he would take at the end of the Republican National Convention. He planned it hours before the President’s speech by suspending a camera high in Madison Square Garden for the right angle.
He imagined the beauty of the moment, but he also growled in anger. “The picture will be exactly what the White House wanted,” he said.
It would show President George W. Bush surrounded by a cheering crowd, family, confetti, and balloons after his nomination acceptance speech. He would be standing on a special stage with the Presidential seal underfoot.
“Why do you think they put the Presidential seal on the floor?” Savoia said. “We’re sucked into the photo op.”
Savoia has been an Associated Press photojournalist for 14 years. He said his mission is finding the moment that tells the story, but it’s hard to find those moments in political conventions designed around staged photo opportunities.
“My role is to constantly push past the photo op to try to find what I want to cover,” he said. “Our job is to find what we believe is the story of the day.”
Over the years he’s found many meaningful stories. In 1993 he was part of an AP team that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photos taken while covering Bill Clinton on his path to the presidency. Savoia won with an AP team again in 1999.
Now, on the last day of the Republican Convention, photojournalists lounged in chairs on the convention floor hours before the final session. A few delegates drifted in wearing cowboy hats and bright red shirts. The room drew several television teams who used the stage as background.
Still photographers, some covering their first national political convention, adjusted lenses and waited for the evening, like a sports team waiting for the big game. Several leaned forward and clicked a few shots when New York Governor George Pataki and aides walked out to check the stage.
When questioned about covering the convention, the young photogs pointed to Savoia, who was walking around, chatting and planning.
In spite of his frustration with political conventions, he finds moments that engage him.
His favorite shots in this convention came during speeches by Arizona Senator John McCain and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“They were pretty animated,” he said. And Laura Bush caught his photographic eye when she walked on stage in front of a background picture of herself.
Savoia said television networks tried to send a message about scripted conventions when they reduced coverage this year.
“They also missed some pretty good speeches,” he said. Savoia wondered if newspapers could send a similar message that would encourage more news events at the conventions.
“I’d like to see a real roll call and a real convention again,” Savoia said, “but that’s not going to happen with our (election) primary system.”
In the meantime, he calls on news writers to keep reminding readers that conventions are a form of “theatre.”
