This photo is the greeting card of American photographer David Hume Kennerly and it is great. Here is David’s accompanying text.
I live my life for the moment, and this was a great one. When First Lady Michelle Obama hugged former President George W. Bush, two worlds converged. In a split second, two people leaped over race, gender, and party affiliations. It was “the hug seen round the world!”
The occasion was the grand opening of the Smithsonian National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., September 24, 2016. I was there on assignment for Bank of America, one of the museum’s key sponsors. President Bush was responsible for the existence of the African American Museum, and in 2003 had signed legislation authorizing its construction. He also personally pushed for it to be built on the National Mall. Mrs. Obama was pleased about that, and showed it with a warm hug.
I was in the right place, and armed with the best gear for the photo. I took the picture with the Canon 5DSR and 100-400 lens at 400mm. The camera’s 50MP sensor allows the image to be blown up almost twice as big as most of the professional SLRs out there at the moment. It made a critical difference in the quality of the image.
An astonishing 360 thousand people “liked” it on my Facebook page, and it was shared more that 70 thousand times on my page alone. I’ve been told that millions have seen it now, and it has also produced a fair amount of funny memes. My three boys got particularly excited, and one of them sent me a note saying, “My god, your photo has just gone viral.” It took Michelle Obama’s hug to make me cool. Not a bad by-product of the event!
Pictures do make a difference, and that’s why I’m still in the business of making them.
David Hume Kennerly
