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Behind the scenes with Mikie Sherrill and Rocky

Scene Through the Lens with photographer Tom Gralish.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (third from right) meets with the South Jersey business community while her youngest daughter waits in lobby (rear). Mom was attending a fireside chat event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey in Mt. Laurel.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

This week: Politics, PMA, and President’s House.

Behind-the-scenes and non-podium photos of politicians are something photographers strive for, and it’s always satisfying to show them as regular people, doing the same things we do, engaging in everyday activities or moments of humanity outside their official duties running the city, state or even the country.

I’m not sure if New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill was getting a jump on National Take Your Child to Work Day (the 4th Thursday of April, this year the 23rd) or her youngest had a day off from school and tagged along when her mom met with the South Jersey business community.

Sherrill’s middle school daughter and high school son often campaigned with her, and were in the front row at her first budget address earlier this month. Her two older children are both attending the U.S. Naval Academy (where Sherrill and her husband Jason Hedberg met as classmates).

President’s House

Speaking of running the government, yesterday marked one year since President Donald Trump issued his Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directing the Department of the Interior to conduct a review of historic monuments, memorials, and similar properties for “partisan ideology” in the country’s national parks and institutions, like the Smithsonian museums.

As the anniversary approached, I visited the President’s House (again, and often) for a photo essay in tomorrow’s print edition of The Inquirer.

» READ MORE: Here are the signs the Trump administration removed from Independence Park

The PMA

And finally, the last “P” in my week’s alliteration, more Rocky action at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

After two decades at the base of the iconic steps, the Rocky Balboa movie prop was lifted from its pedestal and moved inside the museum for an exhibition opening April 25. At the show’s close in August the statue of a fictional character will be re-installed at the top of the Art Museum’s steps, replacing the Rocky there now, a loaner from actor Sylvester Stallone. Then, a stature honoring “Smokin’” Joe Frazier — a real life Philly boxer — will go in the grove at the base of the steps. (The “third” Rocky remains at Philadelphia International Airport).

Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color: