New York Times

Photographer: Haiyun Jiang
2022 -2023 The New York Times Fellowship Recipient – Washington, D.C. 

 

Heidi: You created Grassroots, a magazine that focused on individuals involved in the different aspects of the 2018 midterm election. What trends did you notice then, and how were they represented in this 2024 election cycle?

Haiyun: When I created Grassroots for a class assignment at Ohio University, I felt the momentum from local Democrats, as well as women, to run for public office at a local level, after almost two years into Donald Trump’s first presidency. I was interested in how local elections reflected a national sentiment or lack thereof. I followed Erica Crawley, a black single mother who was running for Ohio State Representative at the time, on her campaign.I covered both former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaigns on and off for this election cycle, and from my experience I felt a stronger sense of urgency from both sides to get their candidates elected to the White House, more so than the 2018 midterm election.

Did your photography approach change as the election and divides became more unpredictable?
I am constantly trying to learn and refine my photographic approach on every assignment, and the learning will never stop. I freelance for the New York Times for the majority of the time and the Times always is on a mission of searching for unique, revealing, fair, and strong visuals to inform its readers. And that mission requires photographers, like me, to find new ways to illustrate mundane situations. I think it’s more the sense of providing readers with information and scenes I see in the field that helps refine the photographic approach than the election itself. The image you were thinking was made after the first attempted assassination of the former president. I have seen lots of photos of snipers as a sign of heightened security around Donald Trump’s rallies from my colleagues and I was trying to make frames that could offer a bit of larger context. The election and divides might have become more eruptive but the bottom line for my photographic approach has always been and will always be remaining fair to whomever I may cover.

Did you pre-visualize this image? or was this a surprise moment for you?
I was assigned to document former president Donald Trump’s rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, right after the Republican National Convention in July, 2024. After a while, I started walking around the “press pen”, where all my colleagues from different media outlets were typically confined at rallies. When I noticed a glare from the stage, I stopped and observed for a bit. I wondered what the rally attendees, who were sitting at this exact angle towards the podium, could see with the glare. Then I made the photo.

How did this election coverage challenge you as a photojournalist?  or what made this one different?
This election, in many senses, has been an unprecedented one. With the current president dropping out after the first presidential debate and the vice president having to scramble together a campaign that helped reintroduce herself to the nation, nothing was ordinary. It challenged me to be adaptable and flexible, having a sense of knowing things may happen super fast and being ready for anything. Physically, especially, it could be exhausting for photojournalists to hop from place to place, and still remain focused and creative on every assignment. My mentors and colleagues, Doug Mills, Erin Schaff, and Kenny Holston, spent on average 12-14 hours a day following a candidate across multiple states. I think the human resources and effort into this campaign were remarkable.

What were the most salient points Doug Mills, whose been photographing presidents since 1983 shared with you and why is it important to have a mentor?
One of the most important lessons I learned from Doug is not to dwell on your mistakes. Learn from them, then move on to the next thing. Also, do not be afraid to take risks. Instead of getting the “safe shots” that everyone else is making, do something or go somewhere different. It is a tough business to be an editorial freelancing photographer. There are very few staff jobs available and I am very, very fortunate to be able to work consistently on editorial assignments. Having a mentor has helped me navigate the photojournalism industry and get feedback often. And Doug Mills couldn’t be any more nicer, wiser, and generous towards younger photographers like me. I am very lucky to have him as a mentor.

Can you share thoughts about your process for covering the election?

My process of covering the election, again, was mostly informed by the NYT’s mission in searching for strong and unique visuals that help provide the readers more context. Therefore, when I covered campaign events, I was trying to keep an eye on details, subtle moments, etc. that might have been overlooked.
For the most part, when I covered candidates, I either joined them on the tarmac as they landed in the city of a rally or campaign events, or I did preset at the rally venue. There usually was not much of a location scouting for me, per se, before events actually started. I would have some ideas of photographs that I would like to make but also need to constantly remind myself to be alert and flexible as anything could change in a split second. I finished my year-long NYT fellowship at the end of May in 2023 and have been freelancing since then. I am extremely fortunate to have continued working for the Times, but most of the campaign coverage I have done was during my time as a freelancer.

Can you share the mood, your approach, what it was like photographing VP Harris?
The SNL photos are more of moments from a photo spray than a project. As VP Harris finished a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was scheduled en route to Detroit, Michigan, the traveling press was told midway through the flight that we were making an unscheduled stop in New York City. After holding for more than three hours, the traveling photographers were brought into the SNL studio and when Vice president Harris took the stage, we were given the time of the cold opening to photograph her interacting with comedian Maya Rudolph. Audience members erupted as they saw her on stage and the mood was jubilant.
When I photographed VP Harris, I was always trying to find moments that she was more introspective, not performative. I would try to educate myself about the news of the day and observe how it affects the mood of hers, as well as her campaign’s.

What is a photo spray?
A photo spray is when press photographers are brought into an event or meeting for a short period of time to photograph. It can range anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes.

Where were you on election night and what was your assignment? Take us to that moment – what was going on in your mind as the results rolled in?
I was assigned to photograph Republican presidential nominee, now president-elect Donald Trump’s election watch party at the West Palm Beach Convention Center. There were supporters of Mr. Trump trickling in throughout the night, wearing his signature red “Make America Great Again” hats, and lining up at mini bars for drinks. There were many TV news outlets and photographers on a riser and on ladders at the back of the ballroom where the watch party took place. The mood was jubilant among the crowds as the election results rolled in. Many news reports stated that we wouldn’t know the election result on election night but I was prepared for anything that might happen. It was incredibly fast as the results rolled in and the crowds’ mood improved significantly. I thought to myself that there was a good chance that we would know the result tonight and Mr. Trump would take the stage once his margin of victory widened more. Therefore, I was keeping an eye on the movements on stage as well as the TV screens.

What moments were you looking for that evening and what stood out to you during those subtle times?
As news coverage as the election results rolled in I was looking for moments of either despair or jubilation among former president Donald Trump’s supporters, depending on how the electoral map looked. More importantly, I tried to keep an eye on more subtlety, people chatting, taking a moment for themselves, etc.
At the end of the election night, after president-elect Donald Trump’s remarks and his supporters exited, I noticed workers of the convention center started cleaning up the plastic cups as well as other trash discarded on the floor. I photographed the workers bending over to pick up trash, with the America-themed lights as background.

Photographically covering an election requires a range of elasticity and neutrality for your own personal feelings, how do you stow that away?
When I am working, I am focused on making photos that help illustrate a story and identify moments that sometimes writers may have overlooked; and I’l fairly good at compartmentalizing. When I am off, I do not spend time thinking about work and instead, I focus on my hobbies, such as Legos and reading. As a journalist, I remain neutral to whomever I may cover and my number one goal has always been fair coverage. It is not my job to insert my personal feelings to make the public feel certain ways. My job is to be their eyes and bring photos to the audience for information consumption.

How do you take chances or risks to convey a point of view?
When I see a photo with potential, I would stick with the frame. I may miss other photos but it’s a risk worth taking. For example, the snipers photo at Mr. Trump’s rally that you mentioned, took five minutes for me to be in the same spot, to get the right symmetry and composition. That means I might not have photographed the candidate himself or his supporters behind me during that five minutes. That being said, I always photograph with both of my eyes open, so I could see peripheral movements while photographing.