By Kevin Hume
I traveled to Washington D.C. for the first time in my life to cover Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” with a fellow journalist friend.
After spending Friday being a tourist and taking in the beautiful sights of our nation’s capital, I was then overwhelmed by being one person in an estimated crowd of 215,000 people on Saturday.
With my audio recorder in my pocket, headphones and camera around my neck and my video camera on a tripod by my side, I seemed prepared to capture anything.
In reality, I had no idea where to start and what to capture.
After a short amount of time considering all the signs and people around me, I slowly made my way through the crowd collecting footage and interviews with my friend.
And then, as they always seem to do, things fell right into place.
Once the rally began, I mostly became an observer and enjoyed the show Stewart and Colbert had put together, laughing and cheering.
I even had some pleasant conversations with a few of the strangers I was standing next to in the crowd.
The rally concluded at 3 p.m., and after seven hours of work, I was beat.
Until, that is, I saw Arianna Huffington, political pundit and co-founder of “The Huffington Post.”
My friend and I immediately began jockeying for position to try and interview her.
After several starts and misfires, we both got her on the record and shook her hand.
After compiling all the photos, video and interview audio, I spent much of Halloween editing, even on the plane coming home.
And now, after it all is over, I feel a great sense of satisfaction, pride and relief.
I spent quite a bit of money to go out there and I am very glad that it did not go to waste.
