[Leica] The Pope.

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Eric Ladner and a couple of others have asked:
Subject: Re: [Leica] The Pope.


> Ted, I can well imagine what a moment it must have been. Do you mind 
> telling what the other, similar, event was/<<<<

It was on my first assignment in the home of the Prime Minister of Canada 
after the defeat of Joe Clark and the mansion was now the home of the new 
Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.

I wasn't a fan of Trudeau's, so there wasn't any expected "excitement 
moment" in the meeting. Here I was waiting for my first personal photo 
encounter with him so I was not enthralled with the moment. We were waiting 
in a small anti-room for him to arrive, myself and a press secretary. We 
however could hear loud babble coming through the open door.

This was the same room and last time I'd been with Prime Minister Clark 
before his defeat. Now my first return to the very room waiting for the "new 
guy." One thing some of you may not know is, Pierre Trudeau was a very 
charismatic man and could turn on a crowd of hundreds in the blink of his 
eyes, an amazing ability to see and hear happen. In any event he still 
didn't do anything for me.

When all of a sudden he walked in and I swear you could feel this man and 
what he projected  before he even opened his mouth, quite strange really. 
And this was several years before the encounter with the Pope.

Please don't read this as a comparison, the Pope to a Prime Minister in 
representation, but a similar kind of "whatever it is some people give off 
in their presence." I'm not sure if the word is  "Aura" but it's something 
like that in my understanding of the word.

In any event the photo moments with the Pope and what was felt at the time 
will always be an interesting experience in my photo career.

ted