Photographed by Bruce Gilden at the 2024 Republican National Convention!!!

In a very unexpected turn of events, I’ve ended up in Vanity Fair, photographed by the legendary Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden for a portfolio of coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was one of the absolute highlights of covering the RNC for me. This was the last night of the convention and the biggest speeches were about to start. I didn’t get dinner that night but had a couple of snack bars in my battery pouch, so I ate a little while waiting for Hulk Hogan to take the stage when Gilden, whom I’d seen around throughout the week, glided in front of me and the woman on the right and quickly took a picture. And then he was gone.

After his flash popped, she turned to me and said, “That was weird.” She didn’t know what had just happened, but I did. I said, “That was one of the most famous living photographers. I hope I’m in the picture!” After spending a week working with my own flash (and working on my piece on the balloon drop), it was fun to get a little taste of my own medicine. I always love watching other photographers work, and to get such a personal experience of how one of the legends of the field does his thing, and then to improbably end up in the final edit, was a just a perfect gift at the end of an arduous week.

And just for good measure, here below is my photo of Gilden taking the lead image of the Vanity Fair portfolio, a scene I just happened upon earlier in the week.

Now I can add “as seen in Vanity Fair” to my bio…