It wasn’t easy to take the famous photos of Trump playing golf as Biden wins the election

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The photojournalist Al Drago, the photographer of AP Pat Semansky and the photographer of the Washington Post Jabin Botsford talked about how things went that day and how they found themselves taking the photos that became one of the symbols of the 2020 elections. holes of his golf course in Sterling, Virginia.

Drago, Semansky and Botsford are part of the group of photographers who routinely photograph Donald Trump when he is in the White House or near Washington. They are used, when needed, to move to anticipate the president’s movements, or to follow him. Last Saturday almost four days had passed since election day, it was already clear that Joe Biden’s victory, but the main American networks had not yet sanctioned it and the news was expected.

What Trump would do that day wasn’t clear, but Semansky, who for AP he spends every weekend at the White House, he had an intuition. Every day the White House press office sends all reporters and photographers a schedule of the president’s meetings with the press, and that day Trump’s arrival was updated with a subsequent message. It was Saturday, the weather was fine, and Semansky figured Trump would probably decide to spend a few hours playing golf, a sport he is notoriously passionate about and played a lot even during his presidency.

Washington’s Trump National Golf Club is located just outside the city along the Potomac River, which separates Virginia from Maryland. Photographing Trump while he is there has been a big deal for the past four years, explained the Washington Post. Journalists cannot enter the area of ​​the camp, which is surrounded by tall trees and on one side is protected by the Potomac, almost 600 meters wide at that point. Photographers usually have to try to take their places on the other bank of the river and be satisfied with the little that you see from there.

At 10.30 on Saturday 7 November, Semansky arrived at the point from where the field can be seen. He wrote a message to Drago, who had already taken pictures from there: he was still in the car, but he was arriving accompanied by his girlfriend and with binoculars, already knowing the difficulty of orienting himself at that distance. When just before 11.30 news came that CNN had attributed the victory to Biden, Botsford was still in the car: the other two photographers, using the longer telephoto lenses they have, began shooting.

At 11.45 am, Trump was first seen and photographed on the golf course. He wore a cap that read “Make America Great Again,” the slogan of his first campaign, and looked calm. The three photographers said it was not clear if he had already received the news even though it seemed that a couple of times he checked his phone and answered at least one phone call.

Following Trump’s movements from almost a kilometer away was not easy. Photographers struggled to distinguish the small group of players that Trump was a part of and every time the president moved they had to move too, running along the river bank.

Amazing to see how US photojournalists @al_drago and Pat Semansky got the shot of @realDonaldTrump golfing while the election was called for @JoeBiden.

So much effort! Great job! pic.twitter.com/1VwfwRujaz

— Mathias Peer (@mpeer) November 8, 2020

They were so far away from anything that might appear to be a subject for photographs, that several passersby stopped them to ask which birds they were photographing, with such long lenses. And because of the lenses used and the distance, the photos taken by Drago, Semansky and Botsford all needed to be cropped to make it clear who Trump was, and they’re all grainy. They are not photos belle, but as Botsford said they are probably “historical” photos.

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