WASHINGTON (AP) — Jacquelyn Martin is a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press based in Washington, D.C., where she has covered the White House for nearly two decades.
Here’s what she had to say about this extraordinary photo.
Why this photo?
I’m coming up on my 20-year anniversary as a staff photojournalist for the AP based in Washington, D.C. In that time, I’ve done plenty of White House photography, but I’ve never been granted this angle before. This moment was shot from the “diplomatic room,” where the president greets foreign dignitaries for formal events at the White House, but I was allowed to be directly behind them which is unusual. It was made as President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were awaiting the arrival of King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a state visit. They’re facing away from the camera, with the main press riser and Washington Monument ahead of them.
How I made this photo
You only have a few seconds to capture these images. I knew that a silhouette could be a powerful way to portray these two figures standing alone, but I also needed images where you could see the king and queen’s faces once they arrived. In the seconds as that car was arriving, I underexposed this split second moment to go for a silhouette and then as soon as the car arrived, I moved the exposure back to normal. I shoot on manual and with RAW files so that I can make these creative decisions on the fly and have a more dynamic exposure to work from.
Why this photo works
The president and first lady are iconic figures, you know immediately who they are even from behind. In silhouette the first lady’s posture mimics that of the monument ahead, and you can feel the gravitas of this moment, when the U.S. will host Britain on the 250th anniversary of the United States. I also liked how the clouds went a dramatic blue due to the exposure. The lines of the press riser lead your eye directly to the waiting figures and their formal body language creates visual tension.
In addition to this tighter photo I was also shooting wide images that show the doorway with a second camera body, bobbling a third body with a super wide lens on it as an alternative, worrying about the king and queen’s arrival and how that might necessitate my changing position, and choosing images to send from the camera to my editor in real time. There are a lot of considerations and stressors when working at the White House. There was a narrow physical space to shoot from where the figures would be centered in the doorway and there are five of us in the photo pool all vying for the perfect angle. These moments are extremely competitive, fast, and can be stressful. It was really cool to be offered a different angle from the average and I was pleased to make several different images of this historic moment in time.
—
For more extraordinary AP photography, click here: https://apnews.com/hub/one-photo/
