I just interviewed Seattle photographer Gregory White who had a rather unusual assignment involving the Palins. This is his account of what happened:

I got a call from a photographer from DC, he had heard of me through some other photographer I worked with, and within a day, I was booked a flight up to Alaska and we were heading over to the Palin house in Wasilla.

We were to photograph Todd Palin for the "Iron Horse" snowmobile race that takes place every year outside of Wasilla. I spoke to Todd a little bit and he seems like a nice enough guy. A little timid actually. It was pretty clear to me that he was not very comfortable with the media, and I can't blame him. I think it was understood that if Todd Palin wasn't in this race, we wouldn't be here covering it. And if Todd Palin wasn't Sarah Palin's husband, nobody would really care. So this shoot was really not about the race at all, though it pretended to be.

When Sarah Palin came out to watch us take a portrait of Todd and his racing partner, she stood in the background and looked like a tiny woman in a teenager's body. I think she might get her jeans in the juniors section of Macy's. The next day was the day of the race, and the photographer and I scouted out good locations to cover the race. Then Sarah showed up and it was the kind of silly buzz because she is such a national celebrity and she lives in this little town. It was sort of surreal to see these somewhat star-stuck people crowding around her praising her and getting autographs. Some guy flew all the way from South Carolina so he could give her this big scary hunting knife that he hand made just for her. It was a little weird.

I'm sure my personal opinions of Sarah Palin colored my impressions of her that day. She seemed sort of a little dazed and she was not particularly sparkling at greeting people. It seemed she was just trying to keep it together, carefully controlling what she said, what she did, and how she appeared in public, while at the same time, trying to appear like she wasn't trying. I would find that exhausting myself. How she is in private is beyond me. Maybe there is no difference. If I were to try to glean some insight about her from her political opinions, I'd say she's a dangerous woman. But if you knew nothing about what she stood for and just met her, you'd think she was just a this slightly off, somewhat cute little woman of average intelligence who seems be just trying to hold it together. Maybe that's the real Sarah Palin.