Despite the mass of humanity, waiting in long lines for hours each day and being shoved out of the way by rude and overzealous photojournalists, Rifle photographer Greg Dahlgren is glad he went to Denver to shoot photos of the Democratic National Convention.

“Other than some blisters on my feet, it was pretty fun because the protesters were colorful,” he said.

Dahlgren wanted to take photos at the historic event for his professional portfolio, obtained official convention credentials through the Citizen Telegram and some of his photos were posted on the newspaper’s Web site, citizentelegram.com, during the Aug. 25-28 event.

Dahlgren also tried to chronicle the activities of Garfield County’s only delegate, Nick Isenberg of Glenwood Springs, who was an alternate delegate.

However, Dahlgren said he spent most of his time picking up his credentials each morning at a site some ways away from the Pepsi Center, where the convention was held, then was limited to only 30 minutes a day on the convention floor.

“The elevators were always overflowing, so we had to find the stairs,” he said. “Then we got to the floor, it was just a wall of people, a mob scene. I had to fight through news crews, and when you’d ask them to please move, they wouldn’t.”

One day, Dahlgren was thrown out of the Pepsi Center when he didn’t have the correct pass to be on the floor.

Outside the Pepsi Center is where Dahlgren took most of his shots, with all kinds of protests and law enforcement officers in full riot gear in case violence erupted.

“I kind of expected what’s going on in (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., where hundreds were arrested at the Republican National Convention) to happen in Denver,” Dahlgren said.He witnessed several non-violent arrests, including a priest protesting abortion. Others were outspoken in defense of frogs and peace, while anarchists, immigration rights and anti-immigration protesters marched up and down the streets in downtown

Denver, including the 16th Street mall, Dahlgren said.

The Arvada Police Department had what seemed like more officers on the scene than the Denver Police Department, he said.

“I learned Denver had to agree to pay all the Arvada officers overtime,” Dahlgren said.

Daily events and schedules were not provided to Dahlgren and other photographers he got to know, so when he saw a crowd of people with cameras run past him, he gave chase. They ended up on the scene of another protest, which was held in a location the police hadn’t been told about, Dahlgren said.

“It took about 20 minutes before even the mounted cops caught up to us,” he said.

One photo shows a police officer yelling while he pushes his baton into the stomach of a protester.

“I didn’t even know he was doing that until I edited the shot,” Dahlgren said. “There it was. I was just making sure I had a good frame on the shot and the cops were yelling at us to get back, too. So a lot of it was just luck and timing.”

Protesters did not agree with Democratic policies, or those of presidential candidate Barack Obama, Dahlgren said. Some of those same protesters, however, Dahlgren believes he saw on TV from Minnesota.

“Some of them were really from the far left, or were Marxist, just anti-capitalist everything,” he said.

For much of his time in Denver, Dahlgren said he was on “auto drive.”

“I was just focused on getting a good shot and didn’t even hear many of the speeches that people ask me about,” he said.

One surprise was how “ruthless” some members of the press could be, Dahlgren said.

“When I was shooting the protest where the priest was arrested, I was shoved by one photographer so he could get a better shot,” he said. “But then I turned around later and moved this one lady out of the way, too. If you don’t, there’s so many people that you just end up shooting the back of people’s heads.”

Despite the hassles, Dahlgren said he would probably try to cover another convention.

“But not without several weeks off,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be (in Minnesota) now.”