Editor and fellow photographer Paul Moakley called me a few weeks ago with a last-minute shoot down in Tampa, Florida to cover a protest hosted by some folks involved in the Tea Party Movement.  Political photography is a bit of thrill for me for personal reasons and I had wanted to work with Paul for quite a while, so I was jazzed and on a plane by that evening.  The protesters in Florida sparked my interest but really only scratched the surface.  I dove deeper that afternoon, spending time at Sun City Center, Florida’s Chamber of Commerce listening to congressional candidate Marco Rubio speak.  The native Florida conservative does not officially claim to be a ‘Tea Party’ candidate, but the movement is certainly behind him.  Rubio spoke with style and grace to the room full of retirees, preaching his gospel of conservative policies, only slightly watered down from the fired up speech of the Tea Partiers.

Fortunately TIME saw the story as worthy of further investment and sent me for three more days to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.  I had the rare pleasure of working with a great editor on-site as Paul accompanied me at the Opryland Hotel to shoot a short film on the convention.  Paul’s tentative then, and now working title for his piece was ‘Meet the Tea Party’.  So that’s what we went with, and aimed to put a face and voice to the new ‘grassroots’ politically-conservative activist organization.  And of course it all culminated in a speech by the collective idol of the Tea Party, Sarah Palin.  To see the film, click here.  To see the online gallery, click here.  Or just pick up a copy on newstands.  Here’s a peek at the digital and film from the short essay and the layout from the magazine.