Using some ingenuity with a flash, an AP photographer gets to the red, white and blue of a portrait

Why this photo?

CHICAGO — The Democratic National Convention spans four days. There are a lot of delegates in a large open space. Trying to create an impactful image can be challenging. This photo was part of a series of portraits and details, showing the variety of people in attendance and the merchandise they choose to wear to support their candidate.

How I made this photo

After spending several days covering very similar light and characters, I decided to try something new. With my Sony A9III, and 24-70mm lens (set at 35 mm) and flash, I took a spare white sheet of paper with a speaker’s speech printed on it and grabbed some gaffers tape I had attached to my battery bag and made a homemade snoot - I wrapped the white paper around the flash and secured it with the black tape. It created a very directional light source. That allowed me to show the character with an intense light. I told the characters not to look into the flash because the direct light was very bright.

Why this photo works

I had to get close to the characters in order to get the images. This draws the reader’s eye right to her with no distractions. It screams America and shows a strong and important demographic of voters, women.

This particular assignment was challenging in many ways, however, the characters were happy to have their photograph taken, which is not always the case for a photojournalist. I was welcomed with open arms: “Please take our photo,” most of the delegates would say. They were happy to have me there to document a moment in history as a person of color and a woman was accepting the Democrat’s presidential nomination.