White House photography

[dbphotos]

An interesting controversy on the first day photos.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01232009...cus_151425.htm

[Abel]

ouch.

[nastytrucker]

"...Perhaps he just had a bad day - or maybe his equipment needs modernizing..."

It doesn't get much more modern than a 5dmkII. Looks like someone should have used a little Live View action and zoomed in to make sure he was focusing on , oh maybe THE PRESIDENT and NOT HIS DESK!!!!

[Cajungaltx]

OUCH....

But honestly... talk about a stressful position... someone posted a link a while back and don't ALL of the photographer's image go into some type of history file or something?

I watched Final Cut last night... and you want to talk about blowing your mind... if you knew in advance that your entire life would be replayed after you died.... how would you live your life?

[toverman]

Maybe there'll be a job opening soon at the White House??

[PhotoByLeal]

Originally Posted by Abel

ouch.

I 2nd that!

angel m. leal jr.

[Hogleg 44]

Originally Posted by Abel

ouch.

Invite him to join the TPF and learn how to use that camera!

[Comanche]

There is a discussion of this on SportsShooter too.

This seems to come under the category of "Gimme a break!" The NY Post (and yeah, I've done freelance work for them) is a tabloid that likes to run leads of sensational stories rather than substantive issues. I've seen the shots - I couldn't see anything wrong with them. Do you think this tempest in a teapot is because the wire services didn't have access?

So - we have an economy in the tank, two wars going on, and a legion of other problems, and the NY Post gets its nose out of joint because wire photographers didn't have access the first day.

Yeeeesh!

[Joe_Lorenzini]

CNN's Wolf Blitzer said the same thing as the post did. They all want this unlimited access. It's ludicrous.

The photos I've seen from Pete Souza so far have been fantastic. You can tell he's got a sense of the place and is familiar with the President (and vice-versa). He also has an great eye for the surroundings.

Too bad to hear about the focus issues. I imagine this has happened to every single chief photographer, just hasn't been publicized like this one was.

Maybe I should send him a Nikon (grin).

Joe

[andyz]

The shots I saw on TV with an interview of Souza and there they looked fine. They weren't there long enough to study them, but what I saw looked fine. This may well be a case of "we didn't get access, so we didn't like what what we saw, we could have done better."

On a different note, I read that the Presidential Portrait was taken with a Canon 5D MkII and was the first digital Presidential Portrait taken.

Also, shots of the inauguration where printed and framed, 20x30 or so, I'm not sure, and given at the luncheon that day. That was moving pretty fast. I'd assume they were digital as well. In an case, it is nice to see so much emphasis on the photography.