On April 14, 2013, Justin Trudeau won the leadership of the federal Liberal Party of Canada. Justin, of course, is the son of the late Pierre Trudeau, the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada.

I thought this would be a good time to recount my interaction with Justin in May 2012 when I met with him for his photo with Miguelito’s Little Green Car.  Miguelito’s Little Green Car is a long-term photography project for my nine year-old nephew meant to show that we are all connected.  For an overview of the project see http://www.leroyschulz.com/2014/projects/miguelitos-little-green-car/.

I was in Ottawa primarily because after two years of repeated answers like “no, it won’t be possible” or just plain “no” or outright silence in response to my invitations, I had an appointment to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his office in Centre Block on Parliament Hill. (For the photo that resulted, see http://www.miguelitoslittlegreencar.com/blog/tending-to-business.)

While I was in Ottawa I had arranged for photos with a few other public figures, including interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Member of Parliament Olivia Chow (widow of the late federal NDP Leader Jack Layton), former federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and others. Through his staff, Justin had also agreed to a photo with the car.

My appointment with Justin was to take place in the Opposition Lobby on Parliament Hill, shortly after that day’s Question Period ended. I had previously gone through the process of clearing Parliamentary security a few times on other trips to Ottawa, but the process of joining the throng of journalists and camera crews in the Opposition Lobby was new to me.

I was asked to fill out a slip of paper identifying both myself and who I was there to see. After handing that slip to a guard to route appropriately, I was directed to a lineup of people waiting for interviews. Given past experience, I expected to have several minutes of wait time ahead of me, but I took to preparing my camera gear right away.

I was wrong about that timing.

I had hardly finished unzipping my camera bag when Justin appeared on my side with a friendly “hi Leroy?” and an extended hand. While I finished prepping my gear, Justin graciously and enthusiastically remarked on how much he likes the green car project.

Since I invite participants in the project to express some part of their personality in their photo with the car, and since I had communicated this to his assistant in advance, I asked Justin what he had in mind for his photo. He answered saying that there’s an alcove in the Library of Parliament that he’s partial to.

And so we we walked down the halls of Parliament on our way to the library — just me and Justin Trudeau.

As we chatted and walked, people would nod or say hello. At one point Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario, and his assistant walked past. His assistant shook my hand with a grin and a prod of “still at it Leroy?” (He had arranged for Bob Rae’s photo with the car on the previous day.)

When we reached the library, a school teacher with a group of kids walked in behind us. When she recognized Justin, much swooning and fawning ensued. For a moment I stood with Justin surrounded by an excited teacher and many relatively disinterested young students.

The Library of Parliament is an interesting place. It is the only part of what’s left of the original Parliament Hill building after a fire that swept through in 1916. Heavy metal doors (visible in the background of this green car photo) are credited with saving the library.

After a word with the librarian, we took a set of stairs to the alcove and once there I took a few test shots and tried a few ideas involving different composition and lens choices.

Here was one of the first photos in the sequence of about twenty photos that I shot of Justin with the car.

I wasn’t satisfied with the overall composition of that image, so we continued along the photographic process. Here’s another outtake. Note the curious librarian in the lower right of the image.

Again I wasn’t happy with the image, particularly with the geometry involved. Next I asked Justin to centre himself in that space for the sake of symmetry and I adjusted his tie for the same reason. Here’s the final image selection that made it onto the project website.

The link to Justin’s entry in the project is http://www.miguelitoslittlegreencar.com/blog/hanging-out-with-justin/.

With the photo shoot concluded, Justin remarked once more on how much he likes this project. In response I asked, “well, how about opening a door for me? Can you help me get a photo with someone else?”

His reply? “Anyone you want.”

I’ve been waiting to call in that offer. Who do you think that should be?