Twin Peaks Set Decoration – The Congressman’s Dilemma Swimsuit Photo from Part 3 of The Return

During my early research into the production of Twin Peaks: The Return, I quickly learned the crew occasionally used stock video assets for various establishing shots. This is best seen with Diane Evans’ apartment exterior or the FBI Jet flying to Buckhorn. They also used stock photo to create things like the Rancho Rosa Estates sign. Now, I can add another stock image to the running list of identified props and set decorations – the Congressman’s Dilemma swimsuit photo from Part 3.

THE CONGRESSMAN’S DILEMMA | SWIMSUIT PHOTO FROM PART 3

In part 3 of Twin Peaks: The Return, Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Gordon Cole is joined by several agents at the Philadelphia office. Agent Albert Rosenfield explains Congressman Theodore Rummel is accused of brutally murdering his wife claims he is innocent. He knows who did it but can’t say for matters related to national security.

On the table in front of Cole are several items that another FBI Agent named Chris acquired from the Congressman’s garden in Georgetown. Placed together, they offered clues to the identity of the killer.

Albert doesn’t mention the Congressman by name. You can, however see a tag attached to pliers stating they were found on September 16 at 3:00 p.m. in Congressman Theodore Rummel’s car. He is charged with attempted murder and drug trafficking.

Next to the pliers is a photo of two women wearing swimsuits. It’s one of three photos on the conference room table.

I’ve been searching for this photo since May 26, 2018 as seen in the screencap above. While cleaning up drives, I decided to try searching again. I assumed the photo was a stock image and not something created specifically for the show.

I did a reverse image search using Google and discovered the cropped photo above used as a feature image in a June 2011 article from a Swedish website called Expressen. It’s a cropped and reversed shot compared to the on-screen counterpart. The image was credited to Thinkstock which was Getty Images former subsidiary of stock photos that closed on June 30, 2019.

Digging deeper, I discovered a second image from this set from an April 2014 article on Terra.com.

I found yet a third image featuring the two female models from a May 2010 article on Glamour.com. These three images confirmed the photos were stock images yet I wasn’t able to find the original via Google Images (their adoption of AI has really messed up searches).

So I turned to Kagi.com, a low-cost, paid search engine that removes all the AI slop and sponsored result ads. The thing I love about Kagi is that it returns accurate results quickly. As soon as I did a reverse image search, I began yelling, “Hell, God, baby damn no – I found something!”

Kagi found the original image on Getty Images (#78652060) which is titled, “Friends relaxing by pool.” The royalty-free photo was originally uploaded on December 26, 2007 by JupiterImages. The company was formerly known as ArtToday, Inc. but rebranded to JupiterImages Corporation in March 2004. It became a subsidiary of Getty Images on February 23, 2009.

You can order a print of the original photo via Photos.com.

I flipped the image horizontally in Photoshop to match the image found on screen. I’m now convinced that I can find anything.

The photo appears again on the conference room table as the FBI Agents are packing up after Cole’s gives them direction.

It’s also seen as Agent Tammy Preston, Albert Rosenfield and Gordon Cole suddenly leave the conference room after hearing that Agent Cooper was on the phone.

I have yet to identify the other photos in this scene, yet it feels like they were created specifically for the set based on initial searches I’ve performed.

See the extensive list of props and set decor on this Twin Peaks Blog page.