How photographers view the photos of Trump's assassination attempt
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Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
After the Trump rally shooting, three images stood out immediately. They've come to be known in newsrooms as the "Evan photo" by AP's Evan Vucci, the "Anna photo" by Getty's Anna Moneymaker, and "the bullet photo" by the New York Times' Doug Mills.
The big picture: Each photo covering Saturday's shooting that's being investigated as both an assassination attempt on former President Trump and domestic terrorism is an example of technical know how, on-the-ground experience, and a deliberate curation process.
State of play: All three images will likely have a significant impact on the future of the election and U.S. politics as a whole — as did images of Napalm Girl, Emmett Till's Open Casket and so many images before them.
- David Jackson's photo of Emmett Till's mutilated face in a casket shocked a nation and ignited the civil rights movement.
- "Without the images," said Bryan Stevenson, an attorney and the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, per Time. "No one would be prepared to believe the violence we've witnessed."
Zoom in: Multiple photographers worried privately in conversations with Axios that the images from the rally could turn into a kind of "photoganda," with the Trump campaign using them to further their agenda despite the photographers' intent of capturing a news event.
- None would comment on the record for fear of losing future work.
- A photo editor and photographer from a major news outlet said the "amount that publications have been using Evan's photo is kind of free P.R. for Trump in a way, and its dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is."
- When the shooting happened, "no one was talking about how these photos could impact public perception in the rush to get it out."
- Their company "gets millions of millions of visitors everyday and I don't think we discussed enough about what these photos could mean," they added.
- Another photographer who has freelanced for major publications worried that the photo would become "a propaganda machine," with the image itself making Trump "a martyr."
Zoom out: As the photos from the rally circulated in the news, conversations were already happening among journalists on social media and on photo-desks: which would win the Pulitzer Prize?
- "The Doug photo is a once in a lifetime shot, pun included," said one freelance photographer.
Between the lines: These sorts of conversations may appear to be crass to those outside journalism, but in a hyper-competitive news market, reporters and photographers often find themselves at the mercy of mass recognition in order to survive.
- "Everyone wants a viral moment," said one one photographer. In 12 hours, I think Evan got like 100,000 followers."
Driving the news: A freelance photographer, who was at the rally, said the standard day rate and frequency of editorial work means that you can't live and work without other income streams.
- Another freelance editorial photographer noted the huge amount of work hours they put in and the equipment they carry around.
- "We're working our asses off before the shoot, during the shoot, and then to edit after and we put so much effort into it because we care about the image," they said.
- "If I start to balance the day rate with the hours I put in, I don't think I'm making minimum wage."
- Another photographer emphasized the social responsibility they have to document political moments in time ethically while facing a day rate of $400.
Threat level: The freelance editorial photographer recalled that some of Trump's crowd "turned on the media" after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was shot at "and gave us the finger and started screaming at us."
- Photojournalists need to file quickly, but they noted the challenges of working in the field in such instances.
- "It was an extraordinary moment and people needed to see that," the rally photojournalist said. "I sat out of sight in the parking lot to file my photos because I was worried about the anger I'd seen directed toward the journalists right after Trump was shot."
The bottom line: This reflects a larger feeling shared by all who spoke to Axios; that their role in news production was to show the truth through imagery, and that despite the negative impact these images may have, they are true. These moments happened.
- "We can't control how people perceive anything," one freelancer said. "But you can educate them."
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