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Photographer behind viral photo of Bernie Sanders wishes he never took a meme

Jan 25, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic 26 Comments

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Unless you live under a rock, you’ve seen Senator Bernie Sanders and his famous mittens in a gazillion memes over the past week. The photographer behind the original photo is Brendan Smialowski, and he has spoken up about this whole meme-craze. In an interview with The Rolling Stone, he revealed some details about the original image and other photos he took that day. He also admitted that he’d prefer if he’d never have taken a meme.

Smialowski is a former sports photojournalist from Connecticut currently working for Agence France-Presse. On the inauguration day, he had a Nikon DSLR with a telephoto lens, when he noticed Sanders taking a socially distanced seat. He took two photos, but interestingly enough – it’s not the better photo that exploded all over the internet.

“The picture itself is not that nice. It’s not a great composition. I’m not going to be putting this in a portfolio,” Smialowski told The Rolling Stone. Out of the two photos he took of this moment, he considers the second one to be better in terms of composition. However, he sent the first one because it captured a better moment. “I always say that in photojournalism, composition comes second to content. And content is the moment,” he said.

When I first saw some of the memes, they were on some Serbian Facebook pages, and I thought it was Serbian epidemiologist, Dr. Predrag Kon. When I saw the memes on some foreign pages, I realized that it was Senator Bernie Sanders. His photo wasn’t only photoshopped into photos, movie scenes, and the like. His now-famous photo with mittens became a crochet doll, a snowman, a cartoon… I even saw a painting in one of the painting groups I follow.

omg guys I literally love this boy, I swear I'm crying watchin all this memes #BernieSanders #Berniememes pic.twitter.com/d5XtXEC7fv

— bislunga (@tipaacasooo) January 23, 2021

By request, I added Bernie to cruise with Jake and Elwood, and I had to turn Bernie's glasses into shades, so he could be the third Blues Brother.#Berniememes #BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/LD2wPj1DiL

— Dave Williams (@dwilliamswriter) January 24, 2021

Seeing these #BernieSanders edits make my day ? pic.twitter.com/T9WlIxu69V

— James (@Surreycricfan) January 23, 2021

When #DeepikaPadukone turned photographer for #BernieSanders. pic.twitter.com/fsW1YlDq0v

— Filmfare (@filmfare) January 25, 2021

#justforfun ?????????
Wishing you a happy day!?✨#ThisIsTheWay #TheMandalorian #BernieSanders those are my #kuiil legs!!!??✨ pic.twitter.com/jHa9pGOGz0

— Misty Rosas (@MissMistyRosas) January 23, 2021

Had to be done #BernieMeme #BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/rERhKMtopS

— Catherine Ashdown (@catherineAshdo) January 24, 2021

I just decided to practice a bit in animation, but I had only one idea and that was #BernieSanders ? pic.twitter.com/7TnO43HqSo

— Pauline (@pickassoh) January 23, 2021

My roomie sent this to me today ?#berniesanders pic.twitter.com/oGuzBbJUPr

— ? PRO ? CHOICE ? DAB ? QUEEN ? (@thedabqueenS) January 24, 2021

Forget the memes – we now have a crochet #BernieSanders ?? pic.twitter.com/VTtyWS6nH5

— Sandy Hunter ? (@sandyhunter2) January 23, 2021

Speaking with The Rolling Stone, Smialowski commented that he “would be more than happy to never have a meme.” However, he admitted that he liked some of the memes people created. Even Sanders himself reacted to some memes in the video that you can see above. he explained that he was “just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention at what was going on.”

I honestly have no idea how and why this photo became so popular and why people saw it as meme material. That process will always be a mystery to me. I like the original photo, and the moment it captures, and I find it more fun than the memes. But that’s just me. What do you think? Do you see the meme potential in this photo, or, like me, you’re not sure why it turned out to be so popular?

[via Reddit, The Rolling Stone]

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Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: bernie sanders, Brendan Smialowski, MEME, Viral

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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