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Donald Trump Learns A Lesson In Framing: Loses It With Photographer Shooting Lots Of Empty Chairs On His Speech

by 11 Comments

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Donald Trump is many thing, but gentle-tempered is probably not one of them. On his Wednesday  speech in a South Carolina ballroom AP photographer Mic Smith took a photo of the ballroom looking half empty with all the back chairs being unoccupied. That photo was used by news outlets like the NYTimes and  businessinsider to suggest that Trump is losing traction.

The interesting news however is Trump’s reaction in an interview to the Dailymail. Trump was so upset with the photos that he claimed that “The photographer is a f***ing thief” and “Tell them they’re a fraud, whoever took it. I just got killed on that thing, and it was just really unfair. It’s godd**n unfair“. Mr. Trump also complained that “They all got out of their chairs and they ran to the front. And I look like a schmuck. If those people moved back into their chairs, the room was full. Totally full”

Indeed, there were other photos taken by mr. Smith framed differently and showing a more crowded scene, but they did not evoke the same coverage or angry response.

Here are the tweet and photo which started this skirmish:

Here is Mr. Trump’s tweet in response for the reporting:

While the tendency here is to focus on Mr. trump and his anger (or Mr. trump and his campaign stats), I think this is a wonderful opportunity to show the power of framing. One photo shows Mr. Trump as a total Winner while the other puts him in quite an uncomfortable spot. While both photos taken so close in time, just using a differnt point of view and different framing.

 

 

[via dailymail, photo by Michael Vadon]

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  • I guess a picture IS worth a thousand words. Which words depend on which picture.

  • pincherio

    Looks like a very orderly surge. All those vacated seats are in perfect order and the crowd even took all their stuff with them when they moved up front.

  • Really important lesson in perspective, particularly photography-related of course. But the virulent, childish response from a potential future leader of our country? Shameful.

  • Kiliman

    You do realize there were two events in SC that day. The first was for the South Carolina African-American Chamber of Commerce. Probably not a big draw, even under normal circumstances. This is what the photo is from. It was an impromptu visit for Donald Trump. It was not an advertised event, and it was in the middle of the work day, so not a lot of notice to attend. I’ve seen other pictures that show the venue reasonably attended (not packed, mind you) for an event of this type and short notice.

    Anyway, Trump stopped by to say a few words as a favor, since he was already in town for the town-hall event scheduled by SC Senator Tim Scott. There are many photos and videos of the second event showing it was a full-house.

    Now as a photographer, you are aware that how you take a photograph determines how a viewer perceives what they see. Whether you like Trump or not, I think it would be beneficial to everyone to look at all the facts before making any kind of judgement.

    People say Trump is thin-skinned. I think he tends to call out what he feels is unfair deception.

    I actually watched both events on YouTube and found his remarks very refreshing, compared to what you typically get from politicians. If you haven’t seen the one with Tim Scott, I highly recommend it. Donald Trump is very good in these one-on-one Q&A type sessions.

    There’s enough bickering about politics online as it is. I’d hope that we could stick more to photography on this site.

    • TByte

      I have trouble believe that this photo is from an event for the South Carolina African-American Chamber of Commerce when I can’t identify a single African-American in it.

    • Morgan Glassco

      Trumps campaign 2 weeks in advance announced there would be 1500 at the event. So its a little hard to claim he “dropped” in. Sure that’s how Chump is going to spin it.

      He gets so upset when these things come out cause it’s the only thing his campaign is running on. Obviously it’s not because of his policies.

  • My only regret is that there is only a border separating our two countries.

  • Oh wait. Trump is gonna build a wall keep us terrible Canadians out of ‘merica.

  • Full or empty, that photo looks tilted.

  • jason bourne

    Trump is a whiny little school girl. Why anyone would think he’s President material is beyond logical reasoning or sane thought.

  • overall a terrible photo!

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