politics

Bernie vs. Trump: A Portrait Experiment

Mounting frustration with Washington politics has outsider candidates surging in the 2016 election. The obvious examples across the partisan divide are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Although different in substance and tone neither Trump nor Sanders are the image of their party's establishment.

This 22-Year-Old is Shaking Up Political Photography with Creative Commons Images

There's a 22-year-old college student who's shaking up the world of political photography. His name is Gage Skidmore, and you've likely seen many of his photos without knowing it. He has captured and published tens of thousands of photos of virtually every major presidential candidate over the past few years, and his Creative Commons licensed photos are being used by the media and by politicians themselves.

Photo Editors Depict Trump as Doing the Hitler Salute

After Donald Trump publicly called for the US to ban Muslims from entering the country on Monday, a number of photo editors responded by publishing photos of Trump that make the presidential candidate look like he's doing the Hitler salute (or "Nazi salute") -- a gesture that's a criminal offense in Germany and a few other countries.

The Tuesday cover of the Philadelphia Daily News compares Trump to Hitler with its photo choice and headline, "The New Furor" (a play on the word "führer").

The ‘Campaign of the Selfie’ for the 2016 Elections

I’m a freelance creative director and professional photojournalist. When I’m shooting, I work quite a bit for the boutique picture agency, Polaris Images in NYC, although I do take a lot of other assignments. I shoot all kinds of assignments—news, features, portraits, and politics... lately, a lot of politics.

I’m in Las Vegas, and with Nevada and its large Hispanic population being one of the early primary voting states next year, all the candidates from both parties are coming through here every week. I’m assigned to cover almost all of them, and I try hard to make more than the usual campaign pictures, if I can.

The Ultimate Coalition: Averaging the Portraits of UK Political Leaders

The image above may look strangely familiar to you. That’s because it’s a facial average of the leaders of the main political parties in this week’s general election in the UK. If you've been following UK politics, you have probably seen these people many times in the media, leading to an involuntary familiarity with them.

A facial average like the one above is created by digitally altering each person’s face to a matching position and expression, and then morphing them all together to create an average.

One Camera, One Lens, and 20 Presidential Candidates

After 27 years of shooting daily photo assignments I had found myself at a crossroads in my photojournalism career. At that point I had spent 20 years as a staff photographer at The Boston Herald and 7 years as the Photo Editor of the Lowell Sun. But creatively I felt as if I was in a rut or shooting on autopilot.

Photographer Releases Classy Response After His Work was Stolen for a Political Attack Ad

Local Alaska photographer Mark Osborne found a nasty surprise waiting for him in the mail a few days ago. Among the bills and junk mail was sitting a political attack ad aimed at a friend of his running for the State of Alaska House of Representatives, and illustrating the ad was an screen grab from a video taken by Mark himself.

Osborne was, understandably, a little annoyed. And so he shot the response above to explain the situation, express his displeasure, and laugh at the situation a bit while he was at it.

Vermont Senator Doubles as an Amateur Photographer, Takes Photos Others Can’t

There aren't many ways to get intimate access to the behind-the-scenes of government as a photog. Your best option is probably to try and snag a spot as the official White House photographer, but those jobs are hard to come by. A senator from Vermont, however, has found another way: get a day job as a Senator and moonlight as an amateur photographer.

Photojournalists Reflect on Documenting Obama’s Reelection Campaign

The 2012 election season is now over, and photojournalists who have been scrambling for many months on the campaign trail can now take a breather and reflect on their experiences. Reuters sent us the video above in which Reuters White House photographer Jason Reed offers a short 2-minute-long behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to photograph Barack Obama as he hustled around the nation, "from riding in motorcades through the streets of Manhattan to flying in Air Force One."

AP Apologizes After Poorly-Timed Photo of Romney Draws Criticism

The Associated Press caused a stir this week after publishing the above photograph of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Shot at Fairfield Elementary School in Virginia, the photo had the caption,

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for photographs with students of Fairfield Elementary School, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Fairfield, Va.

The caption was innocent enough, but the fact that the photo looked as though a girl behind Romney was gaping at his rear end instantly drew criticism from across the web, with commentators calling it "unflattering" and "inexcusable".

Iranian President’s Photographer Defects During Assignment in New York City

Official presidential photographers lead exciting lives. President Obama's photographer Pete Souza attends secret meetings and captures iconic photos. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's personal photographer was arrested last year after being accused of being a spy for Russia. Now Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's photographer is the latest to do something noteworthy: he defected to the United States.