Few people alive have spent more time in the Oval Office than Pete Souza. Philip_Elliott spoke with him about his role in documenting history and his upcoming book, 'The West Wing and Beyond: What I Saw Inside the Presidency' for The D.C. Brief
Former White House Photographer Pete Souza on Serving Two Presidents and Trolling a Third
After Obama left office, Souza became something of an accidental celebrity. His first collection of photographs from that era became a must-have coffee table book around town, and a children’s version followed. Via social media, he became a prominent voice in The Resistance during the Age of Trump. His Instagram account reacted in real time to the events unfolding with Trump in power. Souza often offered a trolly rejoinder and laid bare just how many norms Trump was breaking.
I was one of the few people who were there all eight years. There’s a connection, for me, with everybody, whether they were there two years, three years, four years, whatever. And I forget when they were there. When I saw people a couple weeks ago at the White House, I hadn’t seen most of them since Jan. 20, 2017, but some of them even longer because they left the administration in, you know, 2014. I couldn’t remember who served what years, but I still knew them.
Souza: During the transition, I went in to see Eric Draper, who was George W. Bush’s photographer who had served all eight years. I remember saying to him,. You know, I think what happens is it’s so invested in documenting the presidency that why would you not do all eight years? After I started doing it, it seemed like,It was physically and mentally exhausting. I essentially gave up my personal life for eight years.
Souza: It depends on the particular photographer and President. Eric Draper had a very close relationship with President Bush. I think David Kennerly had a very close personal relationship with Gerald Ford. The jury is still out on Shealah Craighead and Donald Trump. I really don’t know how much access she had. It doesn’t look like she had much access.