When we interviewed Mel D. Cole last week about his career shift from photographing hip-hop stars to political flashpoints like Black Lives Matter protests and Trump rallies, we were struck by the psychic distance he was able to take from the chaotic scenes he’d encountered. After decades of living fully in the hip-hop world, knowing and being friendly with those he photographed, he seemed to have adjusted almost immediately to the more distant remove of the documentarian. Even when his own safety was at stake: