Who is Evan Vucci, the photographer who captured the most viral image of the Trump attack?

Evan Vucci, an American photojournalist and chief photographer for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., has long been capturing moments in U.S. politics and beyond. His portfolio spans an array of subjects, including sports and military events, but his name skyrocketed in public recognition this weekend due to a photograph he took of former President Donald Trump, injured yet defiantly pumping his fist after surviving an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.

Born in Olney, Maryland, Vucci’s upbringing was grounded in the humble professions of his parents – his mother a secretary and his father a police officer. His initial path was set towards commercial photography when he enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1995. However, a lecture by Michael Williamson, a photojournalist from The Washington Post, shifted his focus to photojournalism. Inspired by Williamson’s tales and images from around the world, Vucci changed his major and began photographing sports for Reuters while still in college. He graduated in 2000 with a degree in professional photographic illustration.

Evan Vucci: shoes at Bush to bullets at Trump

Vucci’s career started in a small-town paper, The Fayetteville Observer, but he soon realised that the scope was too narrow for his ambitions. A stint in Sydney, Australia, working as a photo manager for the International Olympic Committee during the 2000 Summer Olympics, marked his first significant break. There, he met Doug Mills of the Associated Press, who helped him secure freelance opportunities with AP.

Joining as an employee in late 2003, Vucci’s work quickly gained prominence. One of his early iconic shots was from a 2008 press conference in Baghdad, where an Iraqi journalist famously threw his shoes at President George W. Bush. His extensive coverage of military operations in Iraq further solidified his reputation, particularly his time embedded with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Mosul. His work during the George Floyd protests in 2020 was part of the AP team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. His role as the chief photographer in D.C. has seen him cover both the Trump and Biden presidencies, continuously capturing moments of historical significance.

Then came the photograph of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in defiance, framed by a clear blue sky and an American flag, as seen immediately above in the X post, quickly became iconic. The image, showing Trump amidst a swarm of Secret Service agents, was shared widely on social media and featured on the cover of Time magazine. Vucci described the tense moments leading up to the photograph in an interview with The Guardian.