Eyes on history: J. Scott Applewhite
As a photojournalist with The Associated Press for more than 40 years, I’ve traveled the world and witnessed history firsthand.
With my own ears, I heard Ronald Reagan demand the Soviet Union tear down the Berlin Wall. I've walked on the Great Wall of China, slept overnight in a voodoo temple, and met presidents, popes and saints. I've flown with the Blue Angels and witnessed the absence of God in Mogadishu. I’ve stood in the boxing ring with Muhammad Ali and was even hit with a snowball by the Dalai Lama.
From AP’s Washington Bureau, I’ve covered seven presidents as well as the divisive political atmosphere in the U.S. Congress.
The Shot is a monthly series showcasing top photojournalism from staff photographers at The Associated Press. Each month, AP photographers will share the stories behind some of their iconic imagery.
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Our job is to show people what they can't see for themselves. Photography transcends language and has the power to change the world. That mission has never felt more vital than in the last two years as a raging pandemic caught the nation unprepared and Americans demanded action against racism and injustice.
The U.S. Capitol where I work is practically the safest building in America – or so I thought until Jan. 6, 2021. Rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the official count of the 2020 presidential election, forcing lawmakers to run for their lives.
Model: Sony ILCE-9M2 | Lens: 385mm | F-Stop: 6.3 | Shutter Speed: 1/60 | ISO: 10000
Security forces draw their guns as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9M2 | Lens: 92mm | F-Stop: 2.8 | Shutter Speed: 1/500 | ISO: 6400
Lawmakers evacuate the floor as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE- 9M2 | Lens: 16mm | F-Stop: 18 | Shutter Speed: 1/200 | ISO: 2000
People walk outside seen through shattered glass on doors leading to the Capitol Rotunda following an attack by rioters in Washington on Jan. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP photographer Andrew Harnik and I were perched in the balcony overlooking the chamber of the House of Representatives. The room was jolted when officers shouted that the Capitol had been breached and tear gas was filling the Rotunda – prepare to evacuate!
I focused on the barricaded chamber entrance where Capitol Police were aiming their guns. My telephoto could see the eye of one of the attackers through the shattered glass of the door, but he couldn’t see the pistols aimed inches from his face. This photo earned first place in the spot news category of the Pictures of the Year International competition.
AP’s cameras became the eyes of the world in some respects. I was still in the chamber when colleagues texted news flashes with the very photos we’d just transmitted.
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 85mm | F-Stop: 4 | Shutter Speed: 1/500| ISO: 800
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., arrives at the Capitol for a close vote with her new daughter, Maile, bundled in Washington on April 19, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sending our images directly over the internet helped the AP quickly relay the first moments of the insurrection to the world. Journalists were special targets of rage that day and AP’s bravest prevailed inside the mob. Even if our gear had been destroyed, the critical images were already dispatched.
Covering the Persian Gulf War of 1991, we carried transmitters, satellite phones, generators, and wet chemicals to develop film.
In 2022, a citizen-journalist in Ukraine can share cell phone video with the entire world in real time.
What changes I’ve seen!
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 24mm | F-Stop: 1.4 | Shutter Speed: 1/320 | ISO: 8000
House Democrats crowd into an elevator as they rush to the chamber for a vote just after meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is moving swiftly toward House passage of a coronavirus aid package possibly this week, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 85mm | F-Stop: 1.4 | Shutter Speed: 1/400 | ISO: 100
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, heads to the chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9M2 | Lens: 200mm | F-Stop: 2.8 | Shutter Speed: 1/400 | ISO: 5000
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9M2 | Lens: 582mm | F-Stop: 7.1 | Shutter Speed: 1/2000 | ISO: 1600
President Donald Trump arrives to board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Aug. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9M2 | Lens: 24mm | F-Stop: 7.1 | Shutter Speed: 1/1000 | ISO: 320
Activists opposed to the confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, are dressed as characters from "The Handmaid's Tale," at the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 24mm | F-Stop: 1.4 | Shutter Speed: 1/400 | ISO: 2000
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., one of the key Senate infrastructure negotiators, rushes back to a basement room at the Capitol as he and other Democrats work behind closed doors, in Washington, June 16, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 142mm | F-Stop: 5.6 | Shutter Speed: 1/400 | ISO: 8000
Newly-elected Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, left, and Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, exchange a fist bump from opposite sides of the aisle on the first day of the 116th Congress as the Democrats take the majority from the GOP, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE-9 | Lens: 28mm | F-Stop: 4 | Shutter Speed: 1/320 | ISO: 5000
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., from left, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking member, confer before considering a bipartisan bill to protect the special counsel from being fired, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 26, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Model: Sony ILCE- 9M2 | Lens: 200mm | F-Stop: 5.6 | Shutter Speed: 1/160 | ISO: 5000
Wearing protective face masks to guard against coronavirus, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., left, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus say farewell as the flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, a key figure in the civil rights movement, and a 17-term congressman from Georgia, lies in state at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)
Model: Sony ILCE- 9M2 | Lens: 85mm | F-Stop: 1.4 | Shutter Speed: 1/15 | ISO: 1000
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., right, are joined by bipartisan members of House and Senate hold a moment of silence for 800,000 American lives lost to COVID-19, on the step of the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
J. Scott Applewhite is a longtime Associated Press photographer in Washington who has covered seven administrations since 1981. He marked his 40th anniversary with the AP the day before the Capitol attack.
J. Scott Applewhite poses for a photo April 23, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Produced by AP News staff. The sponsor was not involved in the creation of this content.