Several photographers who were standing at the stage before the shooting attempted to take pictures of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Evan Vucci, a Pulitzer Prize winning war photographer, took the most popular photograph of the event. Vucci's image can be seen as an important piece of how we remember this moment in history, because it will win awards for its content, use of colour and framing.
The rule of thirds is one of the laws of photographic composition that has been used to break down the composition of Vucci's photograph. It is believed that elements contribute to the photograph's strength.
Vucci made Trump appear elevated as the central figure surrounded by suited Secret Service agents who shield his body. The agents form a triangular composition that places Trump at the right of the flag. The agent draws us into the image, he looks back at us, he sees the photographer and therefore, he seems to see us: he mirrors our gaze at the photograph.
There are strong color elements in this image that pull it together as a photograph. The red stripes of the American flag are in line with the republican red of the podium in the lower left corner of the image. These elements show how certain photographic conventions contribute to Vucci's own ways of seeing and writing.
Vucci has said that maintaining a sense of photographic composure in being able to attain "the shot" and being sure to cover the situation from numerous angles, including capturing the scene with the right composition and light, are important. Most photographers would regard a photographic way of seeing as one of the main reasons for doing the job of the photographer. It means getting the right shot if you're attentive to the way composition, light, timing and subject matter come together in the frame.
Susan Sontag saw the relationship between shooting and photographing as similar to the photographic way of seeing. Writing history with photographs.
There are parallels between Vucci's photograph and Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima during the Pacific War. Four marines are gathered together to raise the American flag and form a pyramid in the lower part of the picture.
The Rosenthal and Vucci images are very similar in appearance. It leads to another photographic way of seeing, which means viewing the world and the events that take place in it as photographs, or constructing history as though it were a photograph.
There is a contradiction in the concept of photographing seeing, which is that no single person can be in all places at the same time, and that reality can't be predicted before a photograph is taken. Vucci's photograph doesn't capture the moment of the shooting, but the aftermath. The photograph shows Trump standing to rise with his fist in the air, as if to say that he knew what was true. Photography and visual representation play a significant part in the mythology of Donald Trump.