Photographing Politics: Objectivity vs. Opinion
A float full of messages in support for Donald J. Trump, J.D. Vance and other Republican politicians during the Mom Festival in Bristol, CT, on September 29, 2024.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz
Coming from a communist-run country, and with over seven years of experience working for a communist-run newspaper, I can attest to the importance of keeping your political views away from your photographs. It is not about it being wrong to have an opinion, but letting that opinion dictate how you capture something, or someone is a mistake that in a way will lead you to distort reality and violate some of the ethical and basic principles of photojournalism.
When you have the camera in your hands to report and document, your loyalty is solely to the truth. Your opinions or views on the people you are photographing will probably lead to the angle you give them while capturing them, but what cannot happen is that you choose not to aim your camera at them just because you disagree with their views or beliefs.
I applied that mentality in 2015 while I was assigned with photographing Pope Francis, in 2016 while photographing Barack Obama, later that year while photographing Fidel Castro’s funeral procession, and also while capturing messages depicting political stances in Canada, Mexico or the United States. The freedom of speech that these last three countries enjoy has brought me joy, but has also caused some shock, as opposing opinions can be found in display right next door to each other.
Even with the polarization that I have unfortunately seen in the United States over the course of my last visit in 2019 and my subsequent immigration in 2022, the diversity of messages will always be a joy for me to capture. It does not necessarily matter whether I agree or disagree with the message in question: what is important is that I am able to witness democracy and freedom firsthand.
A tent supporting the Democratic Party stands next to a tent supporting the Republican Party in Southington, CT, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz
However, we as lens professionals will always find ourselves in the middle of public scrutiny while doing our jobs. The worst part is that our work gets sometimes attacked and criticized by people who have no idea of what it is like to be a photographer, and by people who are completely unable to comprehend the importance of capturing and safeguarding moments, mainly if they are historic.
This mindset affected how people viewed my work in different instances of my life: when I photographed the mass of Pope Francis in Holguín, some of my protestant Christian friends told me that my taking that assignment had been “garbage” (they used a more expletive word). Obviously, the Pope meant nothing to them, and they had some opinions against the Catholic Church. But I told them that it was news, and it was history, my choice would always be to document, and I would not expect anyone to understand.
Something more interesting and frustrating happened when I photographed the visit of Barack Obama. I had been given access to the game by Major League Baseball (MLB), and my main target were neither the US president nor Raúl Castro—who was the Cuban president at the time, although he continues to call the shots today.
However, I was reprimanded by a superior for not producing “… outstanding photos of Raúl” and had some cool ones of Obama. The answer was simple: I had had better access to the US president, and he had been more personable and knowledgeable of what a photo op was.
The criticism came not only from communists, as time has shown that some (not all) of my friends who share Republican values also find my photos of him worthless.
Yet, perhaps one of the most controversial photos that I have made public has been the coffin of Fidel Castro, when his funeral procession moved past Holguín.
The coffin carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro dashes past the city of Holguín.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz
While the photo in question was not an example of good lighting—I had been prepared for a different type of light and it was getting dark fast—, the message was clear. Fidel Castro was gone for good.
The image has raised enough eyebrows among the people who know me. Some Cubans, bitter due to the things they suffered (either directly or indirectly) due to his ruling, said that I should not have used the camera to pay tribute to him.
Again, they are missing the whole point of what being a photographer is. The position I had when I took the photo (more on that story in another post) was highly coveted. A lot of foreign media, including American photographers, were at hand that day, and many wanted my position.
In recent times, I have seen photographers I personally know and photographers whose work I follow follow that ethical philosophy, and sometimes pay for it.
Doug Mills, a Pulitzer-winning photographer from The New York Times, made a brilliant capture last August when he managed to photograph the bullet that grazed Donald Trump’s ear. Trump has repeatedly attacked the mainstream media, calling them “fake news”, and is not a big fan of the newspaper.
Yet, Mills’s work has been so awesome that he has inspired the praise of the now president-elect numerous times, and this photo was maybe the icing on the cake. The odds of someone actually capturing that are extremely small. Ergo, Mills did an outstanding job, both in preparation and in actually going back through his files and finding the photo.
Dina Litovsky, a young and talented photographer who has worked for National Geographic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Time magazine, recently suffered criticism due to her excellent work photographing the Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. Some people accused her of being a “MAGA troll”, simply because her photos were beautiful.
The attacks on her were so many, that she was inspired to write about it in her newsletter.
My young friend, Jason Alpert-Wisnia, who studies in New York University, is Jewish. However, since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza, he has been photographing pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations in different cities. His work, as the talented photographer he is, is amazing, and he has not let his Jewish views get in the way of him taking good photos of the Palestinian protesters.
As someone who suffered the many struggles of Cubans throughout my entire life, but more specifically between the time Covid-19 hit and the moment I left Cuba, I refused not to photograph what I saw. Long lines, destruction, shortages, and hunger were important subjects for me, and were the last pictures I would take of my home nation.
Refusing to shoot due to anger, sadness or frustration was the opposite of where I was supposed to go as a documentary photographer. Being a documentary or news photographer is a moral duty, a calling, and even when you are not on assignment with a media outlet, you have to carry and respect that duty.
I do not care what Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump may or may not represent for a group of people. If I have the opportunity of ever aiming my camera at any of them, you can be sure that I will press the shutter like a maniac and I will try to capture good and compelling photos of them.
I will not expect anyone to understand that documenting history has been, is, and will always be more important than my views.
