How does this magical Jack Dorsey photo – is Alex Jones produced?

Facebook and The Twitter auditions broadcast live from Capitol Hill on Wednesday proved to be theater. Particularly encouraged by misleading reports that Twitter banned Conservative accounts, House and Senate members were interviewing Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook operations director Sheryl Sandberg. This group included Alex Jones of Infowars, who had previously used Periscope to broadcast his dramatic live entry to the audience and harass members of the media. (The waterfall would eventually stop him from Twitter, as a Dorsey company announced today.)

It was a spectacular convergence of two worlds, and it would only be more spectacular directly after the audience. A strange moment captured by Politico's director of photography, Mr. Scott Mahaskey, describes what appears to be a more spontaneous and impromptu encounter between Dorsey and Jones, with bonus cameos from Google Glass and a casio watch that looks old. It's an image that any photographer would like to have. Obviously, Mahaskey was planted in the perfect place that was waiting for him, right?

Not really. "It was purely coincidental," said Mahaskey about the meeting. "Total chance"

In anticipation of the departure of Dorsey and Sandberg from Dirksen's Senate office building, a dozen television cameras threw spots inside the main entrance. Mahaskey, however, noticed Jones heckling journalists at an impromptu press stand near the back door. The Infowars host was so busy living his bravery that he missed Sandberg's exit, so he went to the door but, realizing it was too late, he reversed the course at the very moment Dorsey appeared. The hawker of #pizzagate shouted something about censorship at Dorsey, but the CEO of Twitter ignored it (unlike Marco Rubio). "It's about as [to Dorsey] as he had, "says Mahaskey.

Since most journalists remained in the building, Mahaskey was found next to a handful of civilians armed with smartphones – the only accredited photographer to document the scene. This does not happen often on Capitol Hill, where all the most interesting moments are shot from all angles by a phalanx of cameras. "It's a rare thing to be alone on an island with such a dramatic scene unfolding in front of you," says Mahaskey.

His photography records a tight network of figures, their gestures and expressions are so intense that they seem exaggerated, like those of the characters in a room. An unpretentious cop looks over his shoulder. Dorsey hangs himself; the big man in the center pulls out his lower jaw, apparently preventing Jones from getting closer. This is not a technically perfect picture: the most important character is a bulwark against the brewing conflict. But it pisses you off. "It's a place to click, like" What's going on here? Karen Marshall, President of the Photojournalism Program at the International Center for Photography, says, "It makes you want to keep clicking."

And in doing so, it reminds you that, even in today's ever-changing political theater, the strangest moments are still in the spotlight.

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