This photograph is incredibly accurate in showing the trend how the photo art develops. In modern realities, pictures taken with a smartphone, camera or webcam become incredibly popular around the world. A selfie with the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the backdrop is priceless according to millions of photography amateurs. It is no coincidence that this type of photo has been recognized as a phenomenon of modern electronic times by researchers of media at Graduate Center in New York.
However, the photograph is striking not only for the reason that it shows the trends of style and taste within the modern generation. The picture by Barbara Kinney is symptomatic of the reality and accurately portrays it. The author was able to capture in this moment something much more than merely a crowd taking selfies with Clinton.
“If you want to capture a good shot, you should not stand where the other photographers stand, you should not copy others. You can stand back or aside and see something different. In some seemingly everyday shooting, you can make a super-photo, an artwork,” comments Mykola Tymchenko, photography editor of Den. “It was a fresh look at an official photo of one of Clinton’s hundreds of speeches that allowed a photographer of her team to make this impressive picture. In fact, this is the level of World Press Photo, this is the level of Den’s International Photo Contest. When a photo is more than just an illustration, it becomes a memorable thing, a masterpiece. And, of course, it wins at international competitions. For example, Mykhailo Markiv – a photo correspondent of Den in the past, and now the photographer at Presidential Administration of Ukraine, shot a photo of Yanukovych and Putin at the CIS meeting in Minsk, October 24, 2013. The seemingly routine photo became a political and psychological thriller, awarded at Den’s Photo Contest. Just a week or two that photo was taken, Ukraine refused to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. And then – Euromaidan. Thus was marked the beginning of Viktor Yanukovych’s undoing. And that was the moment that the photo artist conveyed with absolute accuracy.”