Rep. Josh Gottheimer

Maintaining a foot in the photojournalism world has been difficult lately, because often assignments come with very little notice, whereas the corporate and event planning worlds generally schedule jobs weeks in advance.  It's tough to keep the calendar open for occasional photojournalism jobs to get through.  I wanted to be proactive and change that in 2017.

I've always enjoyed the unpredictability of photojournalism.  The feeling that you're "in the middle of it".  January 3rd is that date that the new Congress convenes and newly elected representatives are sworn in.  There are lots of opportunities for pictures.  Open houses, lots of back slapping, friends and families are all around.  I circled the date on the calendar and found a couple freshman congressman whom I thought would be interesting and were from parts of the country where I had connections to the newspapers or magazines.  My first idea didn't pan out, so I contacted The (NJ) Record on the morning on Jan. 3 about covering newly elected Rep. Josh Gottheimer and the ceremonial swearing-in.  Thankfully I received a positive response very quickly.

I settled into the Capitol and went about finding Rep. Gottheimer on the floor of the House chamber, voting in favor of Rep. Nancy Pelosi as minority leader.  And then I went about the unfamiliar task of waiting outside the chambers to catch Rep. Gottheimer as he left.  The hard part was finding him, the easy part was following him around for the rest of the day.  Here is what ran in The Record.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ, 5) poses with his wife, Marla and House Leader, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI, 1)



Here are the outtakes:

Rep. Gottheimer, leaves the U.S. Capitol with his daughter and son, on the way to his new office across the street.

Family, friends and supporters crowded into his new office during an open house to offer congratulations. 
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) stops by to congratulate Rep. Gottheimer. 
Sen. Cory Booker, stopped by as well, and even high-fived Rep. Gottheimer's daughter (below).




Rep. Gottheimer with his son in Statuary Hall, awaiting the ceremonial swearing-in


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