Legendary Photographer on getting that perfect election night picture

As photographers take their places for the 3 November 2026 US elections, an NPR interview turns to David Hume Kennerly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who has documented political events for decades. The report focuses on the challenge of capturing an election-night image that conveys more than a result: the people in the room, their reactions and the moment a political outcome becomes personal. The publicly available description of the interview does not set out Kennerly’s specific advice, so his account of how to get that picture cannot be characterised in detail.

Kennerly’s career offers context for the conversation. His archive includes election coverage and photographs taken with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney on election night in 2000. In a separate 2026 interview, he discussed images of President Gerald Ford receiving poor midterm results in 1974. Those examples show the value of access to private reactions as well as public celebrations. They also underline the judgement involved in choosing which fleeting scene will represent a much larger event.