For years, the narrative that Donald Trump has been pushing is that he’s the victim. His loud, simplistic story of fighting to MAGA (Make America Great Again; who doesn't want to make somewhere great!?) struck a chord with much of the electorate over the years. Past talks of rigged elections against him, and ‘false’ convictions, allegations, etc have placed him, in his eyes at least, as an underdog, fighting for ‘truth’.

Anyone reading this will have heard about the shooting* this week, and seen the subsequent photos taken of the former president, blood smeared, surrounded by security, standing strong (unlike Biden) defiant with fist raised, Stars and Stripes billowing in the background. It’s a striking image, and absolutely perfectly encapsulates his narrative. I think it’s probably just won him the election.

When images, marketing and story align, it can produce quite an impact. And to a (hopefully less fascist) degree, this is what an architectural photographer should strive to bring to the practices and companies they work with. The messaging, goals, values and story of a practice is as important, and should be correlated to the photo and video content that is produced. A message has less impact without visual media, and visual media has less impact without the narrative. Practices don’t exist to design a building, and this isn’t the reason that your practice is chosen over another. Practices are started, grow, and are hired because of values they stand for, value they add, relationships and opportunities they facilitate, and hundreds of other reasons. Figuring out why your practice appeals to your clients, and future clients can inform how to pursue your marketing and photography.

This is how all businesses work; focussing on the needs and value of the next person(s) down the line. Photographers are thinking about Architects, but also attempting to bear in mind what might appeal to the clients of the Architect, whether developers, councils, private residents. Architects are looking at what’s of value to the above, and what their clients find valuable, and who their clients are trying to appeal to. So the conversations about why, what focus, what use, what client are vital in producing the most useful, valuable photo and video that we can, for each individual practice.

The photo of Trump would be great, but not resonate and feel as relevant if he himself hadn’t created the story of him as a fighter. If your practice wants to show itself as sustainable, your photo/video should explain how, and why that’s the case (maybe telling the design and construction process). If it’s about people, you can show the team who helped design it, and turn it into reality, and show the people using it in daily life. If it’s about materiality, how were the materials selected, where did they come from, who fabricated them, and how do they make the residents/ users feel in those spaces? It’s a symbiotic marketing strategy.

I hope this is the only time I suggest anyone to take a leaf out of the Trump playbook, but it feels a prevalent, and costly strategy to ignore, and one even more costly to be taken in by from the wrong people….

*I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but if this was a shooting, this is the best thing that has happened to Trump in many years. In all photos, his bloodied ear appears entirely intact. He was also allowed to poke out quite a few times from behind his many bodyguards, which is surely wildly unsafe in such a situation. He is famously slippery, underhand, dishonest, and lover of drama; I wouldn’t put it past him and his team to organise something, if not this elaborate and dangerous, to add to this.