Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

August 19, 2012

Snap judgment

By Bob Keyes bkeyes@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

ROCKPORT — Samantha Appleton grew up in Camden and spent most of her early life on the midcoast of Maine. All the while, she thought about what the world was like in places like Bosnia, Rwanda and other war zones that she read about in the pages of the newspaper.

From a very young age, Appleton knew she wanted to be a foreign correspondent for a news-gathering organization. She set out on a path to accomplish that goal at age 13, when she took her first photography class at what is now known as Maine Media Workshops.

Today, Appleton's resume includes work for the New Yorker and Time magazines, and she has covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. She documented the 2008 presidential campaign, and worked for more than two years as an official White House photographer for the Obama administration.

Through her position at the White House, few people had more access to President Obama than Appleton. Almost every day for 2½ years, she spent up to 20 hours with the president, accompanying him to official state functions and meetings with advisors, and observing private moments with his family.

She left the position in November 2011 because she did not want to cover another election. Since then, she has been home in Camden, where she is writing a book about her experiences in Iraq.

A collection of photographs from her time in Iraq, on the campaign trail and at the White House are on view in the loft gallery at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport. The exhibition, "Here From There," is on view through Sept. 22.

"It's not about conflict as much as it's about history," says Appleton, 37. "I'm addicted to history. I don't want to make it, but I love covering it."

THE PERSONAL APPROACH

Appleton's photographs are distinguished by her desire to cover history from a personal and intimate perspective. She arrived in Baghdad after the city fell. Journalists covering the war left the city in droves just as she arrived.

She was interested in the civilian side of the conflict. "That's the part of the story I love and do the most," she says.

The most evocative images from her Obama collection are those taken when no one else was watching -- a farewell hug with his daughters before he boards Marine One, a tease from his wife as he devours finger food that he snatched from a tray as they walked to the elevator.

"They had just come from a Cinco de Mayo party, and the poor guy was starving. As we were walking out, he just started grabbing food, and she was giving him a hard time," Appleton says. "It's that moment between them. Just the two of them in the elevator."

CMCA director Suzette McAvoy says the images illustrate a brief segment of an evolving moment in time. Although the subjects may appear unrelated, the exhibition suggests they are woven together with a thread of war, politics and statesmanship.

"She is covering important events in contemporary history," McAvoy says. "As an organization dedicated to the present and now, what better way to emphasize our mission than by showing the work of a contemporary Maine photographer who has been documenting history at the world level?"

Appleton covered the civilian side of the war for three years, beginning in 2003 after the invasion. She latched onto the Obama campaign in 2007 when he was an unlikely nominee. She tells both stories from the street level, focusing her lens on the civilians in Iraq and the masses who came out to hear Obama's campaign pitch.

(Continued on page 2)

Tweet