Elizabeth Warren, thank you

May 11, 2010 by David Shankbone    3 Comments    Posted under: City, Economy, Media, Photography

I make no money from my Creative Commons photography, but the payoffs come in ways that aren’t financial.  One is that with every person I photograph, I’m in a situation where I have the opportunity to say something to that person.

I almost never take advantage of this.  It’s somewhat unprofessional: these people are there to have their pictures taken, and I’m there to take them.  Neither of us is there to discuss whatever.  Idle chatter does not go down well with photographers because it hamstrings our ability to shoot photographs.

Besides, what to say when one has perhaps 20 seconds for an interaction?

When I photographed David Bowie, my all-time favorite musician and someone whose work impacted my life a good deal, I said nothing to him.

“I really love your music” wouldn’t have cut it in the moments we had, and who knows if his reaction to such a cliche would have hurt my own cherished, personal “David Bowie”.

But with Elizabeth Warren it was different.

Amongst the 100 Most Influential People in the World, she was the only person to whom I had something to say because I love Elizabeth Warren.

I love the person I see in the media; I love that she does so much good; I love the voice and tone that she uses to say the things that she does; and I love how gently matter-of-fact she is about it all.

I went to law school, but I also love that I would only need a high school education to understand the arguments that she makes on behalf of mainstream Americans (and against the shenanigans of Wall Street).

If you ever have said to yourself, “You know, I really should bone up on what needs to be done to fix the whole Wall Street mess” then Google Elizabeth Warren and look for her television appearances.  She’s speaking for you, she’s speaking for me, and even though they may not know it yet, she is speaking for Wall Street.

Our financial sector, the entire global economy, only functions with trust and faith; damage it, and nobody trusts that the things you sell may be okay to buy.

Think Chinese toothpaste and toys; American financial products are in danger of the same reputation if we don’t clean up how they are made.

So what did I say to Elizabeth Warren when I had the opportunity?  “Elizabeth!  Thank you!  You do such good work!  Thank you!“  And then I took the portrait that you see above.

Learn why I love her–and why you should too–by watching this clip from the May 3rd Stephen Colbert (whom I photographed in 2007, but to whom I also said nothing):

Click here to see my Time 100 Creative Commons portraits at Flickr.

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