![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to an overflow crowd during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-01.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
“I’m not there to have an opinion, I’m there to take photos,” says political photographer Evan Vucci. As a Washington-based photojournalist for the Associated Press, Vucci has spent the last 13 years in the political arena, doing his “absolute best to play it straight” in his coverage, he tells TIME.
He has spent the last year on the trail with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who faces the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Election Day. Despite his assignment to cover one of the most polarizing political figures to emerge as a presidential candidate, Vucci’s objective is to provide a fair and accurate first-hand depiction of what unfolds before him— and that balanced perspective, Vucci says, isn’t even the most difficult part of covering politics. “The hardest part about this job is every campaign cycle, every new president it becomes more and more controlled. They’re trying to limit your movements,” he explains. “It’s just more controlling and you just have to fight more [for access].”
The permeation of social media and first-person storytelling plays a large roll in this battle for access. Since the last election cycle, just four years ago, a discernible shift has taken place in the visual storytelling landscape. Professional media outlets are no longer the only avenue to disseminate a message. There’s now Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and myriad other popular platforms where politicians can reach enormous audiences with a customized and controlled message.“They have a way to put their message out there and they can bypass the press completely,” says Vucci.
The 39-year-old photographer says he is not criticizing politicians for doing so, but rather calls it a “fact of life,” one that forces photojournalists to work that much harder to deliver an unbiased, powerful message through the digital noise.
Vucci, for one, does just that. His images elevate the mundane to the unique, finding fresh moments in what can be a monotonous drudge of similar stages and settings.
In one stand-out photograph, Donald Trump jumps on a chair, corralling those around him. It was a rare, energized moment, he says. “I was like wow, this is just something I haven’t seen before. It really stood out. And they’re supportive of the guy, man he actually feeds off that. He feeds off the crowd enthusiasm, he really does.”
Evan Vucci is an Associated Press photographer based in Washington D.C.
Chelsea Matiash is TIME’s Deputy Multimedia Editor. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @cmatiash.
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to an overflow crowd during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Campaign 2016 Trump A Secret Service agent waits for the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, in Clive, Iowa.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump An airport worker races to prepare the stairs as the plane of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally on Sept. 17, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colo.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump, Mike Pence Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks with press, Sept. 5, 2016, aboard his campaign plane while flying over Ohio, as Vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., left, looks on.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at High Point University, Sept. 20, 2016, in High Point, N.C.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a pair of babies as he works the rope line during a campaign rally, July 29, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colo.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Campaign 2016 Trump A Miami police officer stands guard during a campaign event with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the James L. Knight Center, Sept. 16, 2016, in Miami.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shakes hands with supporters after landing at a site of the Republican National Convention, July 20, 2016, in Cleveland.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign town hall at Ocean Center, Aug. 3, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-10.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Robert Einspahr, of Denver, lights a cigarette as he waits for the arrival Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to a campaign rally, Sept. 17, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colo.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Campaign 2016 Trump Nathan Paikai, of Honolulu, waits for the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a reception with friends and family following the Republican National Convention, July 22, 2016, in Cleveland.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-12.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Germain Arena, Sept. 19, 2016, in Ft. Myers, Fla.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-13.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![APTOPIX Campaign 2016 Trump Notes sit on the lectern after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke during a campaign rally at Cumberland Valley High School, Aug. 1, 2016, in Mechanicsburg, Pa.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-14.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Donald Trump](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-17.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump comforts Shalga Hightower, center, as she hugs family spokesman Charmil Davis, Sept. 2, 2016, in Philadelphia. Hightower's daughter, Iofemi Hightower, was murdered in a 2007 attack at a Newark schoolyard.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-15.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to introduce his wife Melania during the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/evan-vucci-ap-donald-trump-photos-16.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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