Get on the bus

Daggett Campaign Bus, originally uploaded by john m flores.

During the next election cycle, push your photography in a new direction by following a local candidate. In October I started hanging around with Independent Chris Daggett as he campaigned for governor of New Jersey and got an insider's view of the campaign trail. It was quite an adventure, and presented me with photo opportunities that I would otherwise not have. I was, most of the time, an invisible part of the entourage, and able to capture people and scenes as if I was a fly on the wall, except for that moment in the Meadowlands when security threatened action if I did not stop shooting. Thankfully, the heat of that confrontation cooled, and I snapped some more.

Daggett, unfortunately, didn't win, otherwise these photos would have been a unique collection of the state's next governor. In any case, I felt privileged to be documenting a small piece of New Jersey history.