Photographers Share BTS Look At How They Shot Trump Golfing At Historic Timing
Image via Michael Candelori / Shutterstock.com
When mainstream news outlets called the 2020 US elections and declared Joe Biden as the projected winner, President Donald Trump was golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. Somehow, some photojournalists snuck into the private property and managed to capture him during the historic moment.
According to The Washington Post, getting pictures of Trump at the golf course would be challenging as photojournalists aren’t allowed inside. Regardless, White House-focused photojournalist Al Drago, Associated Press photographer Pat Semansky, and Washington Post photographer Jabin Bostford had their cameras ready to take pretty clear shots of the 45th president golfing, and even documented the moments leading up to the announcement.
In a series of videos and photos shared on his Instagram stories, Drago explained that the photographers had to run along a footpath by the Potomac River with their ultra-telephoto camera lenses to steal photos of Trump, who was about a mile across.
The photojournalists had to do this stealthily as they couldn’t enter the property. Further, they couldn’t get the ideal angles as “the best vantage point across state lines on the shore of the Potomac River is often blocked by trees,” the Post reported.
So, they hurried “on foot” along the river “to keep pace with Trump as he moves from hole to hole aboard his golf cart,” the publication noted. It took more than an hour to nail the perfect shot.
The trio were anxious to get breaking news photographs of Trump upon learning that Biden was the projected winner for the 2020 presidential elections. “We were shocked that it was in that exact moment that we’re basically looking at him as we’re finding out historic news,” Drago told the Post.
The photographers had to set up their clunky gear each time Trump could be seen at a hole, then focus on him and click away. Each time he moved to a hole, they’d have to run again by the river in search of the next vantage point.
While they couldn’t get as close as they would have liked, the photojournalists succeeded at chronicling the historical moment.
View the behind-the-scenes process below. You can also see one of the resulting images here.
Amazing to see how US photojournalists @al_drago and Pat Semansky got the shot of @realDonaldTrump golfing while the election was called for @JoeBiden.
— Mathias Peer (@mpeer) November 8, 2020
So much effort! Great job! pic.twitter.com/1VwfwRujaz
President Donald Trump tees off as he golfs at Trump National Golf Club, on Saturday, shortly after the presidential race was called for Joe Biden.#Election2020 #trump pic.twitter.com/wyVRRSHYQU
— Al Drago (@Al_Drago) November 7, 2020
[via PetaPixel, cover image via Michael Candelori / Shutterstock.com]
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