PHOTOGRAPHER'S NOTEBOOK: A moment in Oregon’s history as seen through my lens

When I finally got situated in the gallery, I saw a few familiar faces including photojournalists Beth Nakamura, Oregonian, and Kristyna Wentz-Graff, Oregon Public Broadcasting. They are two women that have covered many events in the Portland area. Hanging out with those two women is where my adventure began.

After we took photos of the new legislators in both houses and grabbing a quick bite to eat, all that was left to cover was the swearing-in of Gov. Tina Kotek.

During the break, Wentz-Graff said she thought there would be an opportunity of taking candid shots with Kotek before the swearing in. So I followed her to the second floor. We ran into Nakumara and hung out in the lobby area. We were told we could take photos of Kotek in a conference room.

While we were waiting, we were wondering if we were going to get that chance. What we didn’t realize was that this would be the staging area for all the current and retired elected officials, Oregon Supreme Court justices, and judges would gather before heading downstairs.

Soon-to-be-former Gov. Kate Brown entered the area from the elevator and, after hugging several people she’s known throughout the years, she made her way to where we were standing. Brown came up to me and shook my hand. I don’t know her personally, but I have covered her many times throughout her tenure. One time I took my youngest daughter, Andrea, to cover an event, where Brown spoke with her in Spanish. Ever since then, Andrea says, that’s her hero.

As time passed, I recognized a lot of local legislators I have covered in Washington and Clackamas counties. Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson said hello to me. Wentz-Graff and Nakumara were wondering how it was I knew these people. Later we gathered images of former Govs. Ted Kulongoski and Barbara Roberts. After guests left the area, that left Tina Kotek to make her way down the hallway. And this is when the magic really happened.

When I cover such events, journalists usually get differing layers of accessibility. It’s usually the bigger newspapers that cover behind-the-scenes big events. But on that day, I was one of three photojournalists who were able to document this historical moment. What I witnessed was Oregon’s second consecutive woman governor — and her wife, Aimee Wilson — sharing moments with each other before making their way down the stairs for the swearing-in. Wilson kept looking at Kotek very smitten, and Kotek would try to hold her excitement in. But I think she, too, was enjoying the moment before being sworn in as governor.

The three of us photojournalists could not believe the moments we were capturing.

As Kotek and Wilson headed to the stairway, we thought that we would be prevented from following them downstairs into house chambers. As it turns out, we ended up going downstairs with them and continued to document the day before being seated in House chambers.

It wasn’t until then that I realized that I was capturing historic moments with Oregon’s first lesbian governor with her spouse after being elected as Oregon’s 39th governor.

I believe one reason why I was able to cover these moments was because of the two women I was hanging out with that day. Wentz-Graff and Nakumara have made their mark as photojournalists in what was once a mostly male profession. And I was happy to document these moments with them.