Henrico man captures an indelible inaugural image

A young man stands on a barrier above the massive crowd on Washington's National Mall, his hand raised triumphantly.

Amateur photographer Paul Loveland of western Henrico County captured the powerful image on Jan. 20 -- President Barack Obama's Inauguration Day.

And yesterday, that image became part of the record of the history-making day, appearing in the "Official Barack Obama Inaugural Book."

The book, one of a number of tomes released to coincide with Obama's first 100 days in office, is a compilation of photographs from professional photographers that also includes a dozen shots from amateur photographers.

Amateurs were invited to send their photographs to the project's Official Inaugural Photo Gallery -- hosted by the online photo sharing Web site Photobucket -- and even customize their own inaugural photo album. Editors chose Loveland's picture as one of 12 to be published in the official book from among 20,000 submissions.

The book was produced by Epicenter Media, which produced official inaugural books for President Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1997, and President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2005.

"I think it's great," said Loveland, 50, an avid amateur photographer who works at Genworth Financial in Richmond. An enthusiastic Obama supporter, Loveland and his son, John, had tickets to the inauguration that allowed them to be just to the west of the Capitol, on the far side of the Reflecting Pool.

"It was very cold, and I saw this guy climbing onto something -- saw him getting up and I took a picture," said Loveland, who titled the image "Promise of Democracy."

Loveland said the image of the young man captured the mood of the day as he experienced it.

"The feeling throughout the day was that everything had changed, in terms of the direction we were going as a country," he said. "There was a general feeling that we really were living up to our promise, that you can achieve anything in this country."

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .