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The media circus | Scene Through the Lens

Inside the debate spin room

Staffers wait (and watch) for the end of Tuesday’s presidential debate, in the media center at the Convention Center. Afterward, they are the ones who hold up the signs with names of the candidates’ surrogates in the “spin room” while they are interviewed by reporters.
Staffers wait (and watch) for the end of Tuesday’s presidential debate, in the media center at the Convention Center. Afterward, they are the ones who hold up the signs with names of the candidates’ surrogates in the “spin room” while they are interviewed by reporters.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

When former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met at the National Constitution Center last week, the thousand news media covering the event were housed at the nearby Convention Center.

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 Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

September 9, 2024: Even on his “day off,” the busker known as “Etta’s Baby Boy” and his alto saxophone “Miss Nasty” turn heads (but probably not ears) at his regular spot at Fourth and Market Streets. The stencil of David Puryear, by the Philly graffiti artist who goes by Bad Luck, is a recent addition to the corner where Puryear, a musical institution in the historic district who turned 76 on Sunday, has been performing his improvisational melodies there for over a decade.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column.

    Tom Gralish
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    I am a staff photographer concentrating on local news and feature photo stories with an emphasis on politics, history, and the arts.