As we stand on Election Day, let’s look back 12 years ago when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. The excitement at Chicago’s Grant Park was electric!
I updated all the photos on my original 2008 blog post to be high-resolution to fill the page.
That magical night, I also recorded a handful of short videos in between my photographing. I dug into my archives and pulled out 15 short videos from that night at Grant Park, and compiled them into one celebration video.
Highlights from the video:
At the 0:00 mark, an old-timey band plays while someone with a “YES WE CAN” shirt dances along with them.
At 0:10 people are dancing on the street.
At 1:02 someone gives me a hairy eyeball sideglance for recording video.
At 1:04 is exactly when it was announced that Obama won, and the crowd goes wild!
At 1:57 the crowd is silent as Obama’s opponent John McCain gives his concession speech.
At 2:25 people pose with a cardboard cutout of Obama.
At 2:45 the crowd celebrates and starts to go home.
At 3:09 standing on the Michigan Avenue median in front of the Art Institute of Chicago everyone chants “YES, WE DID! YES, WE DID!”
At 3:23 I give a little recap thought before the police have me jump off the median.
Celebration photos available
In addition to this video, I also shot some high-resolution photos. Take a look at this gallery of 13 photos taken in Chicago on Obama’s election victory night in 2008.