Monday, January 5, 2009

Pete Souza - Official White House Photographer

As a Washington DC photographer, knowing who the official photographer for the President is (or will be), is a big deal. It's even a bigger deal when the photographer chosen was one of the official photographers for President Reagan. Such is the case as Pete Souza, a friend and colleague, has accepted the offer as White House Photographer for President Obama.

The NPPA's article reporting this cites a very important point - Souza "said he accepted the offer today after...reaching an agreement that the primary function of the White House photography office will be to document Obama's presidency for the sake of history." This point - while nuanced to those who are not photographers, is critical and key from a historical standpoint.

What is being said here, is that the function of the photographer is to document history in the making, and not serve as an arm of the press office. That's not to say that the press office needs won't be exceptionally well fulfilled, but rather, Souza will have the accessibility he needs to record history for generations to come. Following in a long line of photographers who had this approach - David Hume Kennerly, David Valdez, Bob McNeely, and others, making images for the ages, and not the days' news cycle is a remarkable opportunity, and a huge responsibility.

With that, congratulations go out to Pete as we welcome him back to Washington.

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)


Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I'll start the comments - Dang! nice score Pete!

JDitt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JDitt said...

The terms of the agreement in theory are great. Exactly as you say, they allow Pete's to photograph for history rather than the press office. But isn't this statement still a bit of a charade? Will that agreement really have an effect on his access or the type of pictures he will take? I would think that Pete would have been photographing for history's sake regardless of it being agreed upon by both parties.
-
Jesse
http://www.jdittmarphoto.com/

mode said...

Congrats Pete Souza...

Anonymous said...

How does their access work...in terms of those great photos of, say, Kennedy and his team discussing matters during the Cuban Missle Crisis?

Does Souza have to be security cleared up the wazoo so he can take photos when matters of national security are discussed or does he get five minutes to do his thing and then the real talking begins? Just curious...

Anonymous said...

I hope Pete remind the newly elected President Obama about his promise to the nation / world "The CHANGE we need" time to time in case Mr Obama forget!!

Newer Post Older Post