The Story Behind Hillary Clinton’s Epic Group Selfie

2 minute read

As Hillary Clinton waves to a crowd of 500, barely anyone is facing her. Instead, most of them have their backs turned as they attempt to take a selfie with the Democratic presidential candidate.

For some, the moment was a representation of a narcissistic “generation selfie” and everything that’s wrong with it. “The crowd members at a campaign event in Orlando were simply desperate to place themselves in the same photo frame as the historic presidential candidate,” wrote the Telegraph, as the photograph went viral on social networks.

But for the photographer, Barbara Kinney, it’s was “one of those moments that just organically comes together,” she tells TIME.

Kinney, Clinton’s official campaign photographer, was following the candidate as she greeted people in the overflow room at an event in Orlando on Sept. 21. “There were 500 people that couldn’t fit in the main event so she went and visited them in an adjacent room afterwards,” a spokesman for Clinton’s campaign tells TIME. That’s when Clinton suggested that they take a group selfie, posing for the crowd as they all aimed for the perfect selfie. “It was pretty amazing to be there and capture it,” says Kinney.

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