Last night, I was supposed to be at my son's Cub Scout den meeting (after all, I'm the Den Leader). Things changed when I got a call from an unknown caller on my cell phone late yesterday afternoon.

The unknown caller was the head of the local AP bureau! Today, Virginia will elect a new governor, and the campaigns have been tough and ugly, leaving the candidates in a virtual dead heat. Hoping to break it open, the Republican candidate, Jerry Kilgore, was able get George Bush to come in for a last-minute rally. And the AP needed a backup shooter.

Even though the Kilgore staff had been working on this for a few weeks, it had only been announced to the public three days ago. Bush, on his way back to Washington from a summit in in Argentina, would drop into Richmond International Airport, address a crowd of party loyals, and then immediately take off for home. The whole thing last just over an hour.

My part, though, was spelled out to me as this: "You will be on "Death Watch". We have someone on the plane, and I'll be in the hangar for the event, but I need someone on the tarmac, just in case the plane crashes, or the President slips and falls, or if an ambulance is called." Holy smokes, what an assignment! I was instructed to call a Whitehouse staffer who was handling media credentials, and then I was given billing instructions.

I frantically lined up a backup for the Cub Scout meeting. The meeting was supposed to be "Introduction to Tools", so I needed someone who not only had tools, but could show the boys what pliers are really used for (as opposed to sticking them up your nose). Luckily for me, everything fell into place on the home front, and I was able to bat out to the airport just about dusk.

Expectedly, it was a mob scene. Traffic was fierce. Everyone wanted a piece of this action. Patiently, I navigated down to the back end of the airport, where Air Force One would be. Once I got past the protesters, the packed mini-vans, the tour buses, and the crowds of people leaving their cars on the side of the road so they could run to the event, it was smooth sailing.

As luck would have it, I got to the press check-in at the same time as the guy from the Richmond Times-Dispatch who had given my name to the AP. In reality, this was the best part of the evening for me. We had about an hour to wait for the Whitehouse staffer to get there, and I had a great visit with Bob. Every time I see him or get to talk to him, I learn so much, and here, I had a whole hour. We checked our equipment, tested settings, traded war stories. What a BLAST!

The check-in was interesting. We were instructed to put our bags on the ground, open them, remove all working gear, and turn everything on. The Secret Service fired every camera and every strobe, and looked through every lens. Then they had a dog sniff every bag. All this went on while we were each wanded, carefully and slowly. I can also only assume that I had passed some sort of background check between the time I had called that afternoon and now...

Once we were through the fence, the staffer explained to us exactly what was going to happen and where we would be able to go. Air Force One would land and taxi to the reception spot. The President and First Lady would disembark and be received. They would be carried by motorcade to a hangar at the other end of the airport where the rally was being held. The motorcade would bring them back to Air Force One and they would depart. A flatbed trailer had been brought out on the tarmac, and a metal crowd-control fence (about 3' high) was placed just out from the trailer. This is where we would be, and where we would stay.

I was enthralled with the precision and professionalism of everyone involved in coordinating this event. The Whitehouse staff, the police, the Secret Service, the airport personnel, the campaign staff, and the other media. I felt like I had been dropped into a long-running Broadway musical, where everyone knew their parts perfectly. The choreography was simply stunning.

And, right on schedule, Air Force One swooped in from the dark skies and arrived in front of us! Everything happened exactly as it had been laid out. We were about 150' from the plane, and I had my 70-200 all the way out to 200, trained on the door. Because of the distance, I set my iso to 1600, f-stop at 4.5, and shutter at 1/125; I was also using my 580ex Speedlite. I took some shots, but, thankfully, my being there was only necessary from a just-in-case standpoint.

I really wish I had had a second body so that I could have gotten some shots of the motorcade; all those flashing blue and red lights, the motorcycles, the limos--it was a feast for the eyes. Maybe next time.

All in all, it was a great evening. Beautiful night with a slight Fall chill in the air. I got to do something that wasn't even on the horizon when I woke up yesterday morning. Who knows what will happen today...