Features

The Photographer Shooting Contrasty Closesups of Presidential Candidates

In the span of just a few short years, Seattle photographer Nate Gowdy went from shooting weddings, headshots, and commercial images to shooting striking photos of politicians campaigning to become the leader of the United States. His work has since been widely published, including an appearance on the cover of TIME. We spoke to Gowdy about his life and journey in photography.

La campagne présidentielle américaine vue par Nate Gowdy

Visages grotesques et poses burlesques : les candidats à l’élection présidentielle américaine et leurs sympathisants photographiés par Nate Gowdy semblent tout droit sortis d’un freak show. Retour sur des mois des campagne, capturés depuis la fosse. Juin 2016. Le photographe américain Nate Gowdy rentre chez lui après avoir assisté à un meeting de Bernie Sanders à Los Angeles.

2016 has inspired a powerful, apocalyptic aesthetic in campaign photography

If 2008 was an election of hope, 2016 is bound to go down as the election of fear. For most, anxieties about the candidates, the nation, and even our neighbors’ political views have made the presidential race a fretful slog. To match the tone of the campaign trail, many photographers have adopted a distinct and unusually harsh style: Aggressively lit with direct flash, their images are heavily toned ...

Campaign closeups from an unlikely photographer / By THOM PATTERSON

Not many wedding photographers get tapped to take pictures of the leader of the free world. But that's what happened to Nate Gowdy. One night in 2013, Gowdy checked his email after getting home from a photo gig. The Democratic National Committee, referred by a previous client's spouse, was offering him a job at a local fundraiser. The fundraiser's guest of honor: President Barack Obama.

PRIDE: Inside Seattle's Vibrant LGBTQ Community / By NATE GOWDY

For the past five years, Nate Gowdy has been photographing thriving gay community in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. As the staff photographer for Seattle Gay News for many of those years, Gowdy witnessed the evolution of a movement as the country inched, slowly, towards the legalization of same-sex marriage. Gowdy speaks to TIME LightBox about his work.

These Photographers Are Covering the Presidential Campaign on Instagram

With the campaign now in full swing, TIME selects the best photographers covering the campaign on Instagram: Natalie Keyssar, Mark Peterson, Brendan Hoffman, Evan Vucci, Eric Thayer, Doug Mills, Mark Kauzlarich, Melina Mara, Mark Abramson, Joshua Lott, Hilary Swift, Daniel Acker, Aaron P. Bernstein, Charles Ommanney, Patrick Fallon, Justin Sullivan, M. Scott Brauer, and Nate Gowdy.

When Pictures Tell Stories We'd Rather Not Hear / By MICHAEL ROWE

The photograph of the Trump rally in Loveland, Colorado stopped me in my tracks as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed — a black and white piece of photojournalism that reminded me of one of my favorite photographs, Diane Arbus's "Patriotic Young Man With Flag N.Y.C. (1967)," the iconic image captured at the height of the anti-Viet Nam war frenzy.

US election snapshot: Inside a Donald Trump rally / By NATE GOWDY

I had anticipated Burlington, Vermont, would prove an interesting place to photograph my first Donald Trump rally. I wasn't wrong. Next door to the theater where the GOP front-runner was to speak, a deli advertises its "The Donald" sandwich-made of bologna and white bread, of course. Another storefront’s sign reads: "Trump's A Chump - Feel The Bern."

Une campagne en hors-champ / By SOFIA FISCHER

Jusqu’ici, Nate Gowdy était plutôt habitué aux portraits de drag-queens illuminés par les lampadaires de la ville. Au flash, en noir et blanc, et les plus crus possible. Il y a cinq ans, alors qu’il vient de démissionner de son poste d’assistant en maternelle, sa famille lui offre son premier appareil photo. Il se présente à la rédaction du Seattle Gay News, un hebdomadaire LGBT dans la ville.