As the confetti falls and the music plays, the Democrats end their convention. A huge sigh of relief from the assembled media, especially those who endured both conventions.

From my vantage point there was a nice shot of the confetti falling, which turned out to be slightly deceptive. Since the final night was moved from the outdoor stadium to the indoor arena, no plans were made for balloons or confetti. Two confetti ‘canons’ that shoot out the bits of paper were installed on the big central media tower I was on. Just in front of us were the network television cameras so our collective view was of a shower of confetti coming down at the end. But people in other parts of the arena saw a mild burst of paper from our location, but nothing near the stage.

During the various speeches I felt that the crowd response was much louder than in Tampa. Some sports arenas tend to amplify the crowd noise for a home field advantage, it’s possible the Charlotte arena was like this. But it did seem that the cheering was more intense from the Democrats during some of the key moments. 

The Foo Fighters completed the amazing line up of performers. During their usual intense delivery, I noticed the two “O”s in their name were made of the Obama campaign logo. So it seems the band is committed to the Democratic cause. And, I'll have to say again, the Democrats music at the convention definitely was a winner over the Republican music.

Here’s a few shots from the ‘digital darkroom’ area where the editors and photographers work on sending the photos out. Two of the AFP technicians, Joe and Adan, pose with a “Ready for Joe” sign given out during Joe Biden’s speech. They worked long hours making sure all our computers and camera connections worked perfectly for the two weeks. 

Our tireless editor Eva, who must have looked at over 10,000 photos and sent out thousands to our wire, holds a couple of signs rescued from the convention floor.

So that’s it for the conventions, I’ll get one day of rest before heading out to the US Open tennis here in New York for the men’s final on Sunday, the final day. And I’ll get to see my friends Bunny and Missy, the USTA officials that I usually see for the 2 weeks of the Open and have missed while I was away.

For most browsers, if you click on each photo, you'll see a bigger version.

Last night was the big speech by Bill Clinton. After hours of somewhat mild speeches, the arena was packed as people anticipated Clinton. They weren’t disappointed. Clinton gave his usual fact-filled but entertaining talk. Our photographers who had a view of the teleprompter said he only followed the text half the time, speaking off-the-cuff the rest. At the end, there was a ‘surprise’ appearance by Pres. Obama. These conventions are scripted to the last detail, so I imagine lots of planning went into visit. Obama didn’t say anything, just greeted Clinton and both walked off the stage. I had a long telephoto lens to get close-up shots of the speakers. Obama bowed to Clinton as he walked on the stage and as you can see I came very close to cutting Clinton out of the picture. 

There is lots of music entertainment at both conventions. Earlier today I saw James Taylor during his sound check, which hundreds of workers and journalists stopped to watch. Probably drawing more attention than the politicians. People sang along and snapped photos. And a few minutes ago, after the convention was called to order, Mary J. Blige just electrified the crowd with 2 great songs. Someone remarked that the Democrats definitely have the better music.

At one of the closed streets there is a group of Georgia sheriffs who are on traffic duty. They’ve been named, “The Dancing Traffic Cops”. The four have managed to turn a boring duty into performance art. They use their whistle as an instrument and gesture wildly as they direct cars and pedestrians through the intersection. Scores of people stop just to watch and take photos. It’s quite entertaining. 

 The good news early Wednesday morning was that the DNC decided to have Pres. Obama’s speech on Thursday at the Time Warner Cable arena, where we are now, instead of the big outdoor football stadium. A forecast of thunderstorms made it a good idea to stay indoors. There have been fairly regular afternoon storms since we’ve been here. So it would have been a soggy crowd.

 Tuesday night we saw Michelle Obama give an impassioned speech about her husband their vision for the country. She wore an elegant dress by Tracy Reese. The reason I know that is a journalist friend, Maria Puente, who writes the Lifeline Live blog for USA Today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/index#.UEen-6PNkYI              She used one of the photos I took and talked about dress and the designer. 

My photo spot is at the center position again, with a great view of the stage. Here’s the view showing all our equipment and my friend Alex from Getty Images working on his computer. It’s a similar set up to the RNC in Tampa, with a little more workspace. We photographers are here for pretty much the whole night session, so I have some snacks and water. The food is improving, here at the arena I had a bbq pulled pork sandwich yesterday and today. There is a grill that looks good, I may try that tomorrow. The big speaker tonight will be Bill Clinton and delegates are starting to come into the hall.

It’s been a busy few days in Charlotte figuring out our shooting positions and setting up equipment. To complicate matters, Thursday night, the final night, will be held at the Bank of America Stadium where the Carolina Panthers football team plays. This means late Wednesday night after the last speech ends around 11:00 p.m. we have to take down all our equipment from the Time Warner Cable Arena and somehow get to the stadium before 1:30 a.m. where we will leave everything. Then Thursday we set all the equipment back up for the final night.

Walking around Downtown Charlotte, where the arena is, seems very lively. to get pre-convention photos, I saw a giant sand sculpture of Barack Obama, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 

Brendan found some amazing cutout figures of the Obamas at the American Presidential Experience, a museum nearby. To get a sneak preview of our president/candidate and his wife, we posed them by the center camera stand where I work in the hall. 

Later in the day, the real Michelle Obama came in for interviews and to do a rehearsal for her Tuesday speech. I sent a photo of her shoes for the fashion conscious. 

I haven’t posted anything for a couple of days, we’ve been traveling from Tampa to Charlotte and organizing for the Democratic convention. Most of the talk about the final night at the Republican convention was about the odd performance by Clint Eastwood. 

The final 'balloon drop' Thursday night in Tampa.

As usual it was very late when we finished after Romney’s speech and the balloon drop. It was about 2:00 a.m. Friday morning when we left the arena. Robyn, the AFP Los Angeles photographer and I were to be picked up at 5:00 a.m. for an early flight to Tampa. So it didn’t seem like we would get any sleep. I had to pack 3 cases of equipment to be shipped and with help from Brendan we finished this at the hotel around 3:00.  I finished packing my clothes and the equipment I was to carry on the plane, then realized I was hungry. I ate some food I had in the room then managed to nap for half an hour.  Later at the airport we got a small breakfast. We had 2 flights, stopping in Atlanta on the way to Charlotte, arriving just before noon. Our two editors, Mladen and Eva, had a 10:40 non-stop flight and arrived just after we did. 

Lunch and sleep were the priority for Friday. Then Eva, Robyn and I went shopping for some supplies and snacks for the convention workspace. You can’t bring in outside food or often water to the arenas during the conventions so we try to take in some before the strict security starts. We found a Target and bought what seemed to be every snack food available. 

Saturday was fairly relaxed. Robyn found a list of organic or local food restaurants so at least the meal possibilities sounded much improved over Tampa. Brendan joined us for breakfast at Harvest Moon Grille, a farmer to table restaurant. It was the first civilized meal we had for many days. Our next task was laundry. We found the “Spintastic” Laundromat which was amazing. It was very clean, a giant room of machines and dryers. In the back there were tables or a couch to sit at, a foosball game and a pool table. Very whimsical signs decorated the place- a “Small Dryers” sign made of (maybe) lost socks, “Wash To Win- The More You Wash, The More You Win” advertising some sort of contest. 

We delt with setting up some equipment in the afternoon, including a rushed trip to Home Depot to buy a drill. My spot in the arena involves drilling some holes and screwing down camera supports to a wood platform that we stand at. So we look more like carpenters than photographers while we do this.

We got a look at the inside of the Charlotte arena and the spots where we would all work from. Of course we had to spend some time taking photos of each other in front of the signs.