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Donald Trump publishes photo book undercutting former White House Photographer

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It’s pretty usual that at the end of a presidential term, the White House photographer will publish a book showcasing their work. What isn’t so usual, however, is when the former president beats the photographer to the post and publishes a book first, using the photographer’s images.

That’s unfortunately exactly what appears to have happened to former White House photographer Shealah Craighead. Donald Trump has already published his own photo book titled “Our Journey Together”, the majority of which contains images shot by Craighead. In response to this, Craighead has now scrapped plans to publish her own book.

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White House photographer tells us what it’s like to shoot 7 presidents

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What would your dream photography gig be? Photographing wildlife for National Geographic magazine? Photographing the rich and famous? Being paid to travel to far-flung places? For some, photographing the president of the United States may well be up there on that list, particularly if you get to see them behind closed doors, away from the public eye.

White House photographer and Pulitzer prize winner Doug Mills shared his experiences of photographing not just one, but seven of the US presidents in a fascinating interview aired on Today.

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Biden and Harris photographed with Sony A9 II; the first presidential portraits shot on a mirrorless camera

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The White House has released the official portraits of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. An interesting thing is that they were taken on a Sony A9 II, unlike portraits of two former presidents that were shot on Canon cameras. Also, these are the first Presidential portraits to be shot on a mirrorless camera.

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Photographer restores and colorizes vintage photos of 26 US presidents

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James Berridge of JBColourisation has already demonstrated his impressive restoration and colorization skills. In his recent project, he embarked on a demanding task to make a large chunk of US history more relatable to the 21st-century folks. He restored and colorized 26 presidential portraits. All of those photos that were photographed in black & white now have their restored, colored version.

After he finished the process, James shared a video that, for the first time, shows all US presidents in color. And in another video, he spoke more about his process, the challenges he faced, and why he decided to start this project in the first place.

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Photographer captures Trump’s cue card reminding him to be sympathetic to shooting survivors

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It’s nothing new that politicians use notes and cue cards when giving speeches. But a recent AP photo shows that Donald Trump uses notes that remind him to be sympathetic. AP photographer Carolyn Kaster managed to capture the notes president Trump used when meeting people impacted by the mass school shootings across the US. The photo made the public worried and caused a lot of reaction.

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President Trump’s new official portrait lacks pro lighting and definition

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The White House have released new official portraits for both President Trump and Vice President Pence. Pence’s actually looks pretty good, but Trump’s? Not so much. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it just looks like a smartphone grab shot with ambient room light.

The portraits were shot by two different photographers. Shealah Craighead and D. Myles Cullen photographed Trump and Pence, respectively. The newly released Trump portrait does offer a more friendly pose and expression than the last one, but the bad lighting and messy background really lets it down.

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This is the oldest known portrait of a U.S. President

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There’s an interesting story about the oldest presidential portrait known so far. The sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams sat for a photographer in August 1843, and the daguerreotype emerged in an antique shop in 1970, priced at 50 cents. Today it sits in the National Portrait Gallery as the oldest survived photo of an American president. However, today, almost 50 years later, another daguerreotype has appeared. It’s older, and it also seems to have an interesting story.

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Official White House photographer for Donald Trump announced: Shealah Craighead

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After some rumours and speculations, the new Presidential photographer has finally been announced. Obama’s photographer Pete Souza left the White House, and the one to replace him and work with Donald Trump is Shealah Craighead. She is a photojournalist who already has the history of photographing politicians, and even working in the White House for George W. Bush.

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Photographing the President: an overview and interesting facts about all presidential photographers

The importance of presidential photography cannot be understated in today’s visual world. Although the bulk of photography since the inception of regular presidential photography in the 1950s still consists of “grip and grin” photo ops, White House photographers have sought to capture a more intimate look at the leader of the free world. Press access to the President varies by administration (a criticism that dogged the Obama administration), but White House photographers have access to private or top secret moments that are a vital part of the historical record – from 9/11 to the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

“I’m going to document every meeting that you have. It’s for history,” said Pete Souza, Chief White House Photographer under President Barack Obama, in an interview with National Geographic. “This job is about access and trust, and if you have both of those, hopefully you’re going to make interesting and historic pictures.”

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Do you have what it takes to become the official White House photographer?

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The concept of official White House photographer was established in the 1960s and started with John. F. Kennedy. Since then, every president of the US, except Jimmy Carter, has had his official photographer.

The latest video by DigitalRev shows a brief history of presidents and their official photographers. We’ve been surrounded lately by the news about the elections and inauguration of the new US president. But this video focuses on what we’re all interested in here: photography. It also refers to some features the White House photographer needs to have, which is particularly interesting. So, how is the official presidential photographer chosen?

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