Previous | Next :: Fast Food Hilton Style : Washington : DC | June 21, 2008, 1:39 pm

Michelle Obama was speaking to a lunch of 1000 supporters of the 'National Partnership for women and Families'. These kind of events are the stock in trade of the Hilton on Connecticut Avenue. I've eaten at a few myself with guest speakers ranging from the President on down. Its amazing to see the army of waiters and cooking staff in an organized frenzy serving these dinners to a thousand guests simultaneously....... its a bit rubber chicken but you got to hand it to them..... they are pretty good when you consider the task in hand........ I shot a few frames of all this activity then one of those secret service types with a curly earpiece said it was somehow a breach of security to shoot an interesting picture...... not the specified image....... Security demands that all photographs are the same........ All photographers must stand at the back..... Then be herded to the front only after Michelle Obama is on the stage. Then herded out when she finishes.....That way you can only shoot the specified pictures of her speaking....... not greeting the crowd or just anything else other than the actual straight on headshot that is specified....... even taking pictures of waiters is a breach of security...... the security that everyone will have exactly the same picture.

Cheers Jez XX

PS........Completely separately from the image above and totally the opposite of the mass dinner at the Hilton........ I ate last night at Equinox........ wooow amazing place amazing food....... it has to be in my judgement by far the top restaurant in DC......... while I was there I saw Condi Rice was dining there ...... not surprising really the food is just so special ..... I had a drink with Todd Gray the Chef and his wife Ellen......they are both fantastic people...... they founded their restaurant together back in 1999 and have stayed true to their original goals...... Todd has made himself the man that defines Mid Atlantic Cuisine....... I saw a New York Times review that has Equinox as the rising star of DC....... cant argue with that...... pretty well opposite the White House ...... any one visiting DC would be crazy not to have Equinox on their list of "MUST DO's" before leaving the city. Jez XX