John Leland recounts a 1996 tumble by Bob Dole from the perspective of the photographers who witnessed it:

One caught the candidate, saving him from possible injury, while another caught the brunt of the falling banister, fracturing several bones in his foot. And one got the shot that captured the essence of a campaign that was starting to fall flat for a 73-year-old candidate whose age was already turning into a campaign issue.

Great story. And there’s also this:

It was the first year that campaign photographers used digital cameras, which meant they could transmit pictures to the East Coast in time for the next day’s newspaper.

“If I’d been shooting film, those pictures would’ve been 12 hours later, and maybe never seen the light of day,” Mr. Wilking said.

Amazing.