The 2012 Presidential Campaign by Melina Mara and 2011 Pulitzer Winner Nikki Kahn

Every four years, Post photographers tail the presidential candidates as they campaign across the states. This year, Melina Mara followed Mitt Romney while Nikki Kahn took on President Obama.

About Melina Mara: | Twitter

Melina Mara, a staff photographer at The Washington Post, covers the National Political beat.  Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Melina is the daughter of a CBS cameramanand an always motivating and supportive Italian mother.

She studiedpolitical science at Sarah Lawrence College, and after being disillusionedwith law school became a teacher. Refocusing her career on photojournalism,Mara attended University of Missouri School of Journalism as a graduatestudent.

Since then, she has worked for newspapers and magazines around thecountry, and is presently, since 2004, a staff photographer at theWashington Post, working on the national political beat and generalassignment — she’s been documenting the American political scene fromCapitol Hill, to the campaign trail, to political issues effectingAmerican’s coast to coast.

While a Seattle-based photojournalist, she beganphotographing the 13 women in the US Senate in 2001, continuing the projectas their numbers grew to 14 in 2003. Mara traveled the country to documentthis defining period in the history of US politics.

At a time when accessto national politicians is increasingly controlled, Mara persuaded thesenators to allow her to document the unprecedented role of women in theSenate, both behind the scenes and before microphones and lights.

Changingthe Face of Power: Women in the US Senate, a documentary work of the 14female senators at work on Capitol Hill, opened at the SmithsonianInstitution in May 2003 and is presently a traveling exhibit. The book wasreleased in Fall 2005. ( via washingtonpost.com )
 
About Nikki Kahn: Website | Twitter


NIKKI KAHN joined the staff at The Washington Post in January 2005 after her previous job as a photographer and editor at Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service in Washington, D.C. She has also worked as a staff photographer at the Indianapolis Star and as an intern at the Washington Times, the News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska.

Born in Georgetown, Guyana. Kahn moved to Washington, D.C~ and studied at American University where she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in visual media and art history in May 1996. She later attended Syracuse University and completed a masters of science degree in photography in May 2004, with a project on AIDS in Guyana. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband Michel duCille.
 
Nikki won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize ( read more here )

Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University (left), presents the 2011 Breaking News Photography prize to (l-r) Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post.

Produced by May-Ying Lam, photos by Melina Mara and Nikki Kahn, music by Podington Bear/ The Washington Post


Via washingtonpost.com