Media access at campaign events, originally uploaded by Nashua Telegraph.

I'm so jealous.

Last week I covered presidential candidate John McCain's Town Hall
Meeting at Daniel Webster College. A colleague of mine told me after the
event that he and his niece were asked to go up on stage with McCain. I
wasn't jealous about going onstage, but to the access I would have had
to photograph him.

Check out this photo carefully. Count how many point-and-shoot cameras,
camera phones, and video cameras you see behind McCain. They are
literally just a few feet from him. Those are close-ups, and I mean
close-ups.

Meanwhile I had been standing on the media risers on the other side of
the gym, 100 feet away squinting to see him. My job was to photograph
him for The Telegraph, where I am a staff photographer. Thousands of
people are going to see my picture of him.

The closer we get to the November election, the harder it is for the
local media to get access to photograph the candidates up close.
Sometimes we rely on the associated press, who have much better access
and longer lenses, to get the close-up shots. But in this case, I should
have given my camera to the people on stage and let them take the photo!

-Bob Hammerstrom