Photojournalists describe capturing iconic images of Trump rally shooting

The assassination attempt on former President Trump immediately sent shockwaves across the nation and through an already tense presidential campaign. It also quickly became an event defined by iconic photographs. We spoke with two of the photojournalists who were covering Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania that day, Evan Vucci and Anna Moneymaker.

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Geoff Bennett: The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump immediately sent shockwaves across the nation and through an already tense presidential campaign. It also quickly became an event defined by iconic photographs.

Amna Nawaz: We spoke to two of the photojournalists who were covering Mr. Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania that day and who are now here in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: And that’s a little bit old, that chart, that chart. That chart’s a couple of months old.

Evan Vucci, Associated Press: I had my lens trained on the stage. And over my left shoulder, I heard several pops.

(Gunshots)

Evan Vucci: And I knew right away it was gunfire.

So I ran to the stage and I pulled my wide-angle lens out and I started photographing.

Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images: I just really tried hard to just keep on taking pictures, just keep on taking pictures, in between saying, “Oh, my God, oh, my God.”

My name is Anna Moneymaker, and I’m a staff photographer for Getty Images in Washington, D.C.

Evan Vucci: My name is Evan Vucci. I’m the chief photographer for AP in Washington.

My thought when the gunfire started is that this is going to be one of the biggest news stories in American history. And I have the responsibility to cover it. The entire time, I’m thinking, OK, slow down, slow down, think, compose. What are you doing? Where are you going? What’s the light? What’s your composition? Think.

Anna Moneymaker: It was just surreal, confusing and nothing like I have ever experienced before. It’s all these blue suits. You could just see in that little archway of legs, like, his face.

He’s a distinct president. And I didn’t notice blood at first, but I just kept taking pictures.

Evan Vucci: I’m thinking, OK, where is he going to go next? What’s going to happen? How is the Secret Service going to get him out of here?

As the former president started to stand up, I ran for the front of the stage, and he was sort of fighting with the Secret Service a little bit to start pumping his fists to the crowd. And I started making frames there.

And then I knew that he was going to go down the steps and into a waiting vehicle. So I ran to the steps as quickly as I could, and I started framing up what I thought was going to work.

I always say the curse of the still photographer is that you never have a second chance. So I need to be there immediately. I need to start making photos that are storytelling. And I can’t do that from the ground. I can’t do that from anywhere else. I have got to be right where it’s happening.

Anna Moneymaker: I was covering politics during the pandemic. I thought that was the biggest thing I’d ever cover. Then I was at the Capitol when January 6 happened, and I thought that was like the biggest thing I would ever cover.

I was not a very, I think, seasoned journalist at the time, and I fled during the Capitol, and I hid in an office. In the days and months after that, I had a lot of anxiety and regret for not having made better pictures. I just did not have the training that I think I now do.

Instead of freezing up, I think I said, don’t freeze up. Don’t freeze up. Just go. Just go. It’s OK. Just stay down. Just stay down and make the pictures as best you can.

I think it’s kind of made me think, like, if you can go through that, then you can go through anything.

Evan Vucci: Honestly, I’m just proud that I didn’t mess it up. And the other thing is, I work for AP, so we have a pretty distinguished history of photojournalism.

And when it was my time, I held the standard, and that’s what I’m most proud of. It’s not really the single image that I made or anything like that. It’s that I was able to do the job and not flinch.

Anna Moneymaker: Seeing some of the photographers I was with here, we just kind of look at each other, and we’re just like, how did we — how did this happen and what did we experience?

Amna Nawaz: It’s remarkable work by those journalists under fire.

Geoff Bennett: Indeed.