Prospero | Photographing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

An intimate look at the Obama administration

The Chief Official White House Photographer for Barack Obama has curated a new book of photographs. It reveals a special relationship

By C.D.

JOHN F. KENNEDY always made good use of photojournalists. On the campaign trail, he was pictured with delegates, taking counsel from his brother, Robert, or carrying his young daughter and her rag doll. As president, he created the position of official White House staff photographer, and appointed Cecil Stoughton to capture, when requested, his public and family life. Lyndon Johnson also added Yoichi “Oke” Okamoto, a personal photographer, to his staff.

Over the course of his 34-month tenure, Stoughton took around 12,000 pictures of the Kennedy administration. “Camelot” was documented in a way the public had never seen before, and the pictures were a statement of openness, granting everyone privileged behind-the-scenes access to their president. Stoughton’s final assignment in that capacity was to photograph the shell-shocked huddle on Air Force One as Johnson was sworn in.

When Okamoto accompanied his boss into the Oval Office, he suggested that the role of presidential photographer could usefully be expanded. He wanted to have the freedom to decide how and when to capture both history being made and the day-to-day reality of the top job. Access and trust were at the heart of the relationship between the two men, and it produced an intimate and extensive record of a presidency.

The relationship between Barack Obama and Pete Souza was very much in this tradition. They had established a connection in 2004, when Mr Souza was working as the Washington photographer for the Chicago Tribune and undertook a project to document the first year of the newly-elected senator from Illinois (these photographs were published in 2008 as “The Rise of Barack Obama”). They shared the philosophy of an accessible presidency; in the tradition of Okamoto, the terms of Mr Souza’s employment were full access to all aspects of White House life, including classified meetings. “Obama: An Intimate Portrait”, published this month, showcases 300 of these images (chosen from almost 2m).

Mr Obama admits that it took a few months to get used to the omnipresent photojournalist, but he found that Mr Souza not only had an exceptional eye but a way of being present without altering the chemistry of the situation. This is clear from the lack of self-consciousness in the shots. One of the most memorable images (top) is from his first day as White House photographer. In a chilly, utilitarian service lift on the way to one of many inaugural balls, the president put his jacket around the first lady’s bare shoulders and leant in, almost touching foreheads. “The prom photo” set the tone for his work over the next eight years.

He sought to capture such moments, to give a sense of the smaller details as well as the bigger picture. One photograph might depict a fist bump with a child in Rio de Janeiro, or with a cleaner. The next would show the euphoria of passing the Affordable Care Act, or the unbearable weight of pain on hearing of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Perhaps most historic was the image taken in a cramped conference room one Sunday in 2011 (below), as senior officials watched the operation to capture Osama Bin Laden unfold.

But a special moment could come from anywhere, and Mr Souza would get nervous if he was in his office for too long. “You’ve gotta be in the room where it happens,” he’d say. “If you’re not there, you’re not going to capture any moment, let alone a historic one.” Indeed, some of the most poignant photographs could have easily been missed. In May 2009 Carlton Philadelphia, a departing White House staffer, posed briefly with his family in the Oval Office for a routine memento. Jacob, Mr Philadelphia’s five-year-old son, asked the president if his hair felt just like his own. The single frame shot (below) captures Jacob’s hand fleetingly and respectfully placed on Mr Obama’s bowed head. The image, symbolic of so much, became one of the most famous of the Obama presidency. By popular demand, it was the only picture in an otherwise rotating display of Mr Souza’s work to remain in place in the West Wing until the final days of the Obama administration.

Mr Souza is now mining his extensive archive as a means of commenting on the Trump presidency. He invites comparisons of the two presidents’ characters, posting touching tributes and timely, sharply-pointed rebukes on Instagram. It is indeed a different time in the White House, not least for the official photographer: not since the administrations of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter has access been so restricted. Donald Trump, though emotive in his tweets, resorts to a limited playlist of expressions in front of the camera, and Shealah Craighead, the incumbent photographer, is tasked only with making sure that utilitarian photo ops get recorded. With no trust or opportunities for candid shots, there is only limited, functional observation. The public is firmly back on the other side of the rope.

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