A cloudless sky, an American flag and, to the left, something that looks like a music stand. A huddle of men in black suits, one in sunglasses staring straight at the camera, the others, arms stretched, are clustering round a fatter, older man whose face is streaked with blood, his fist raised as if fist-bumping God. This, in Donald Trump’s mind, is just what he is doing for he has survived the assassin’s bullet: something neither Kennedy nor even Lincoln achieved.
The composition, taken in near impossible circumstances, is breathtaking both for Evan Vucci, the photographer, and for Trump. It is the dream shot, a hero shot, taken a few months before the election. One or two points on his ratings, mutter the pollsters, but really it’s over and he’s won.
‘I shoot politics for a living, man,’ said Vucci. ‘Being a photographer you have to be there.’
‘F8 and be there’ is the first rule of news and war photographers. The
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