White House photographer Pete Souza reveals what&#39;s in his bag

"Are you sure they are not treating him like they treat thousands of unpaid interns on unpaid internship?"

Yes you are right, probably he decided to put his personal life on hold for 8 years just to take Obama's portraits for free.

Jul 4, 2016permalink

melias

According to some reports he could earn up to $172,000 per year.

Jul 6, 2016permalink

Albert Silver

The Flickr album also shows ample use of a 70-200 f/2.8.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Clyde Thomas

Interesting. I would have expected at least some type of ultra wide.

Wonder what zoom setting he most often visits with the 24-70.

Wonder which of the three lenses he uses most.

Thanks for posting DPR.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

fotobert

looking at the flickr shots it's the 24-70, mostly around 35mm.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

JackM

Article makes no mention of the 50/1.4 pictured? Not surprised if he's not using that hunk of unreliable AF. 50/1.8 STM is so much better.

Jul 3, 2016*permalink

Marksphoto

I think he is using the Sigma 50 1.4, how sad that canon can't make a decent normal lens.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

MGradyC

As long as you keep it parked at infinity when you're not using it the focusing helicoid doesn't bend every time the front of the lens is bumped.

Jul 7, 2016permalink

Mikael Risedal

Putin has announced that they are using only Zenith cameras inside Kreml

Jul 3, 2016permalink

What a jerky comment, nobody uses zenith for anything more then a few decades. Canon also is not .US brand.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

photogeek

Well, Russia is still de jure at war with Japan.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

DarnGoodPhotos

I think you mean Zenit.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

WAR? Nobody notices it at all, are you joking ?? Japanese protesting against american base on okinawa, kosovo was bombed by the usa and nato few middle east countries were completely destroyed and are being bombed regulary by american drones, you are shifting the subject,
Zenit is still decent optics maker for special needs, night vision, optics etc, but the Japanese are unbeatable in consumer camera market. all presidents all over the world are photographed by japanese made staff

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Marksphoto

Zenit is a good camera, you can get it for $20 at a flea market but then you need a $2000 scanner to get anywhere.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

photogeek

@Daniel Ko: I'll just copy from Wikipedia for you: "Relations between Russia and Japan are a continuation of Japan–Soviet Union relations covering 1917-1991, and Empire of Japan–Russian Empire relations, covering 1855-1917. The two countries have been unable to sign a peace treaty after World War II due to the Kuril Islands dispute."

Basically, Russia held onto a few Japanese islands in order to not have to ask anybody whether its military ships can pass through. This annoys the Japanese to no end, but they can't really do anything about it.

Jul 4, 2016*permalink

In Russia, picture takes you.

Jul 7, 2016permalink

you probably know little about zenit. it mainly produces special optics for different needs such as night vision, telescopes, lenses, space optics too. camera is just a small segment. also if you buy analogue canon you would need a scanner too, and they are so cheap these days , a friend of mine threw a drum scanner in the rubbish, as film market is long time obsolete.

Jul 8, 2016permalink

justmeMN

(deep announcer voice) When history is made, a Canon camera is there to capture it. :-)

Jul 3, 2016permalink

zxaar

Missed the moment with bill clinton and monika though.

Jul 4, 2016permalink

Kevin Coppalotti

Great choice of gear. there is a lot to be said for the KISS principle so you can concentrate on the work and not be loaded up with gear.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Pretty non demanding photography. One could use any camera brand in any format and be just fine

Jul 2, 2016permalink

PaulDavis

That is pretty much what I was thinking. Quite shutter would be important I would think. And good low light performance.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Thematic

Unless your there, you have no idea how demanding it is. Remember these photos and situations are not all 100% available to the public. Lots we don't see.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Pete could use any camera, but he doesn't. I'm not sure other people could use any camera and "be just fine".

Jul 2, 2016permalink

RecklessCoding

It is nerves-breaking photography. I was lucky in my military service (mandatory in Cyprus), to be asked and photograph some war exercises. It wasn't even the real thing, but I could see people running around crazy, trying to perform their 150%. You need to stay calm and do your job as invisible as possible, limiting your moves and working space. Usually, within 5 minutes, before you get kicked out.

I would expect in the real thing, you have an even smaller timeslot or get kicked out suddenly due to an unexpected emergency (or at least you have the fear of that). Every shot does matter. Especially, if you want to capture strong emotions, as in that picture, as none is going to pose for you.

Yes, other cameras would be fine as well. I don't think a Nikon D4/D5/D500/D750/D810 or even some mirrorless wouldn't give you some keepers. More and more genres of photography are becoming gear-agnostic with tech advancements, but that doesn't make them any less challenging.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

PaulDavis

I should clarify. I think the stress level and attention level to capture the moment is not easy. I in no way want to degrade Mr. Souza's photography abilities. I just don't think the camera needs to be the best out there.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

(unknown member)

What a vacuous comment.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

@PaulDavis You're right, the camera doesn't need to be the best out there, and it isn't. Objectively, the best would likely be the most expensive camera from Phase (XF100), Hasselblad (H6D-100C), Leica (S), Canon (1DX2, 5DSR) or Nikon (D5, D810). But the 5D3 offers an excellent balance of image quality, speed of operation, high ISO, quiet shutter, ergonomics, size, weight, reliability and lens quality. Even if it isn't the absolute best in some parameter, it's a very rational choice for this kind of work, as many photojournalists and event photographers can attest. In truth, there is no one "best camera". It always depends on the task and the person using the camera.

Jul 3, 2016*permalink

PaulDavis

Snapper, not sure why my comment is so stupid. I am sure though you will be able to spell it out in all your brilliance. Please keep up the big words. They are very impressive.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_AfVtAcmT4&ab_channel=HamishMcHarg

Nothing vacuous at all in my comment. I photographed for decades professionally in environments far more challenging than this photo...as opposed to being an Internet expert like yourself

Jul 3, 2016permalink

2stepbay

I'd say it's a pretty demanding job requiring agility to move with spontaneous events and in the moment change of plans

Jul 3, 2016permalink

(unknown member)

What? Doing weddings yep ah haaa .....ok you the man LOL

Jul 3, 2016permalink

(unknown member)

@ P Davis people can only respond to the OP. My response was to The Davinator only.

Jul 3, 2016*permalink

Basically any modern professional or "prosumer" -or whatever the definition is-, are up to basically any task. The good thing is that real pros like Mr. Souza can deliver the goods with gear others seudo-pros consider "obsolete".

Jul 4, 2016permalink

The problem for most people seems to be that it's not their choice, so they denigrate it, to make themselves feel better for not having the same thing. Souza's job is extremely demanding and requires a keen eye, sound judgement, and a sense of history so that he captures significant moments that are not repeatable. Anyone who thinks this job isn't really hard has no clue.

Jul 7, 2016*permalink

Imagine being in these meetings asking the POTUS stay still "because my Sony A7 battery just died" (again).

Jul 7, 2016permalink

Ewelch....I dont think anyone here has said the job isnt demanding. I said it was not demanding on the gear. Big difference. It is obvious looking at the photos that the lighting, etc, is not demanding. Any modern camera can handle it. It is painfully obvious.

Jul 7, 2016permalink

&snapper2013- Yes, weddings and events...professionally for nearly 25 years...as opposed to some forum web expert like yourself with no clue

Jul 9, 2016permalink

Fotoni

These photos should had been taken with Pentax K-1 and pixel shifting enabled. That combination destroy every other full frame camera when it works. Everyone just have to be still.

Another option is to use medium or large format digital camera. D810 at ISO 64 is a viable option with extra lighting. Zeiss Otus or similar quality is the only acceptable lens.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Yxa

Key words When it works

Jul 3, 2016permalink

You're right, except for the part where you said stuff.

Jul 7, 2016permalink

Yxa

Of cource I'm right not that you would understand it

Jul 10, 2016permalink

Joe Ogiba

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza taken with the 42mp Sony A7r II and FE 55mm F1.8 :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/21511378622/

Jul 2, 2016permalink

mike051051

Yep, I saw that. Interesting but I could only find the one image made with the Sony out of the 324 in that album (but I may have missed some). I wonder if he was testing it out?

Jul 2, 2016permalink

RedFox88

I'm sure he's given other gear to try out or play with.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Pixel Pooper

So many people defending Canon against the hate comments that nobody is making.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Jonathan Brady

I don't think anyone is defending anything. They're pointing out the irony of past comments, posts, and conversations that literally every member of DPR is aware of.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Correct... while the forum was pushing shadows he made thousands of photos in the white house. ;)

Jul 2, 2016permalink

People are replying, indirectly, to all of the forum comments about how Canon images "suffer" due to "old sensors tech" having "insufficient dynamic range". Mr. Souza has a great portfolio of photographs proving them wrong. And there are many other great photographers producing art, books, advertising, news pics, etc., with Canon, not because they have to but because they want to. This is counter to the general nitpicking about camera specs where small differences are blown out of proportion.

Jul 3, 2016*permalink

Under The Sun

Just shows that online thinking and reality are not quite the same.

Jul 4, 2016permalink

osan

Canon and America haters; This article is the golden opportunity to gorge yourselves in double portions. It seems that majority of the people on this site is one or the other. It's like heaven on earth :))))

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

Yxa

Canon is a Japanese company, Kodak is Dead

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Maybe the reason why, is that american people like to wear "canons".

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Canon 5DM3 and Fuji X100S as second body is *exactly* the pack I would take on this job. The X100S with the 35mm equiv works as small mirrorless package and the Canon does the rest whenever you need a more specific lenspackage.

What more to say.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

RooksTemplar

Agreed , I use a similar setup for outdoors or big exhibition halls where I don't need super wide . I run a d810 with the VRII 70-200 2.8 and the x100s for wider angle. It saves a chunk of weight when I don't need my d750 and wide zoom.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

grock

This is almost the exact kit I use to photograph concerts, and the Fuji takes the place of the 24-70 2.8 when I can't fit that lens in the kit. Not great for full-time concert shooting, but good enough for wide angle shots when I'm shooting mostly large zooms.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Dreamscape Photo

Im not surprised at the kit i use two canon DSLRs and use smaller cameras for non work stuff mainly.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

photofan1986

I read 'Obama bin Laden' in the text. Not a coincidence maybe :-D

Jul 2, 2016permalink

DarnGoodPhotos

Probably more telling about your mindset than it is about reality.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

I read KKK in your comment. Not a coincidence, probably. :-P

Jul 7, 2016permalink

"There's no photographer in the world with a job quite like Pete Souza's. As Official White House photographer,"

Uhm other than every other official photographer for every other world leader? So at least 150 people I'm guessing...Its nice when Americans assume our country is the only one in the world.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Valiant Thor

True. Americans are really a legend in their own minds.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Really blows most Americans minds when I reveal to them that a bunch of countries that they would never even consider visiting have better standards of living, more developed cities, and more interesting cultures haha.

I live in China. And frankly most Chinese tier 1 and 2 cities make the majority of the United States look pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Mike FL

dulynoted;

Who is/are the Official Chinese photographer for Xi and/or your dear Communist leaders?

BTW, for your "better standards of living", I have been lot of countries including China where Beijing is a very POLLUTED city that I never see in any developed countries. In the other words, you do not understand "better standards of living" b/c you never see one.

Do you?

Oh, in terms of "pathetic". If you visited Japan, you should know that the #1 item in Chinese tourists' shopping list is Japanese TOILET seats, this is "Absolutely pathetic" in your own words.

Yes?

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

jmfoots

As a country boy American who now lives in Japan, I'd be happy to hop on the 'America isn't the only country in the world that gets it right a lot of the time' bandwagon. Mike, I have certainly seen (and live in) better standards of living coming from my small-town US upbringing. Still, he's right that Beijing is largely intolerable in terms of pollution. Shanghai is one hell of a city, though, and we haven't even brought up Taipei and Hong Kong (unfortunately both smoldering hot in summer, but nothing that can't be matched by Houston's humidity).

As a person who covers geopolitics, I think it wouldn't be a major stretch to say that the sitting US president may be the most powerful man in the world (or, at the very least, the most attention-getting figurehead) , making Souza's job extremely unique if not utterly one-of-a-kind.

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

Juzam

I don't think it's unreasonable to argue that the President of the USA has a special position in this world different to every other leader.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Dear dulynoted, once you've lived a few places, you will begin to lose your arrogance. You're really not that clever of a monkey after all, and neither are the rest of us. Instead of tearing others down, it should be our lives' work to improve this world, whichever corner of it that we happen to find ourselves in.
And FWIW, I love China, but the cities are not at all remarkable. They're all only a few years old, and already falling apart, like Atlanta in the US but worse. However, the Chinese people whom I have met and spent time with there are wonderful, and they are what make China great, not buildings.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

jmfoots

Cameron2: Sometimes we forget in our enlightened states that being haughty against what we consider uneducated arrogance is still arrogance.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

there are no big difference there are many more other leader looking better then obama, and taking in consideration the fact that he rules mostly by adviser and pentagon , he is the weakest leader of many others who make decisions themself...:) so you comment jmfoot simply looking strange, maybe you need to learn about other countries??? and leaders, Fidel Castro is one of them

Jul 3, 2016permalink

jmfoots: I'll have to sleep on that one. I'm not sure if I am bright enough to appreciate the subtlety.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

@cameron2
I have lived in Canada, the United States, China, Mexico, Italy, and South Korea. Beijing is not the standard of Chinese cities. By far. Many cities in China are nicer than Beijing. Although you might be interested to note that pollution in the United States is worse per capita than China. Beijing very much reminds me of New York. Shittiest city in the USA.

I sit here and watch people that barely make 1,000 USD a month afford homes in large cities, send their kids to good schools, travel regularly, purchase current electronics, etc. The public transit in most Chinese cities is far better than the transit systems found in the USA, and frankly the food its better. To top it all off the population is healthier, have longer life spans, and lower obesity rates. Yes. I consider the standard of living much better in China. The only place the United States is better are small cities and towns. In big cities I see no comparison.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

@Mike FL
"Who is/are the Official Chinese photographer for Xi and/or your dear Communist leaders?"
I'm not a communist. But it is nice to know you are a xenophobe. No idea who the official photographer is. His identity is probably protected but I don't read chinese. I only speak it. China is full of great artists. Their work just never escapes China because frankly why would they? They have the largest demographic to peddle to here already.

Beijing is a filthy city, but it's not really any worse than most of New York. It isn't the standard of all of China. Look at Washington DC. Our Capital is horrible. At least beijing has a real history behind it. If you want to see the best China has to offer you need to leave Beijing and see Shanghai and Shenzhen among others. Those two are easily the best of the large cities. Beijing is the worst with Guangzhou being in third.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

dulynoted->
yea Beijing is great, and most important very friendly to foreigners , Also better condition per $$$, But if yo income 4x higher then average you can have such condition anywhere in the world.. I can say just that chinese cities arent better , life there is really harsh and government oppress people in many respects, it just dont care about foreigners thats is why there is such feeling of real freedom in Beijing

Jul 3, 2016permalink

@dulynoted:
Yes, I have been fortunate to visit and work in various places in China. Like I said, I love China and the people, but I am also not blind to its problems, and precisely because some of those problems are so similar to other places that I've lived, it saddens me to think that they could have learned from others' mistakes and avoided them. I did not mention Beijing, but yes, it is a city with some of the craziest of challenges, and mass transit, while present, does not begin to put a dent in the traffic, and the ring roads continue to be built one after another, and the cars sit on them for hours without moving (it feels like you're not moving, anyhow!) The geography of the city works against it for pollution, trapping it, like LA of old. Funny you should mention New York; I think I enjoy New York for many of the same reasons that I enjoy Beijing!

Jul 3, 2016permalink

@Daniel Ko you don't need to make 4x what most people do to live that way in Beijing. Chinese lead very very fulfilling lives on their wages. In fact most working class Chinese have more savings than Americas, travel more often, and even buy more expensive homes. It can be harsh for the bottom 1% but that is the same everywhere. China has lower unemployment rates than the United States in Cities like Beijing and even has a lower rate of people below the poverty line. The government restricts some expression. But it is far less than people think. At this point in time it is rarely oppressive. In fact the government is more often than not working on programs to improve the lives of the Citizens.

@cameron2 I do think Beijing has its upsides. But personally I far prefer Dalian, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. These cities aren't really lacking in any way in my opinion.

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Archiver

How many photographers for other world leaders get to shoot the American president on such a regular basis? By that criterion alone, it is indeed a job like no other.

Jul 4, 2016permalink

abortabort

Oh wow! And look the white house use HP laptops! Says about the same thing.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Archiver

Even the White House is not averse to a little product placement. ;-)

Jul 4, 2016permalink

Joed700

In case you haven't noticed, the Canon 5D Mrk III's retail price has gone up a notch or two just recently. This article will sure boost the sales of the 5D III, just enough to clear the inventory before Canon releases the 5D Mrk IV or something like that... Oh, about the choice of camera...if you watch some of the documentaries on the White House, White House photographers in the past had used Nikon as well, so this guy with the 5D means nothing, just a personal preference. I shoot both Canon and Nikon, and I'm leaning toward Canon at this point with their new sensor on the 1Dx II. The Nikon D5 is really a disappointment compared to the D4s in terms of high ISO and DR!

Jul 2, 2016permalink

RPJG

Lol...

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Manny316

I have several friends that went to school with Pete(K-State) and I enjoy his pictures. I'm surprised Pete doesn't have any Sony gear in his bag even for leisure time since I remember him trying out the Sony a7rii when it first came out and took several photos of Obama with the a7rii. I guess it wasn't good enough for him.lol

Jul 2, 2016permalink

see https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/21511378622/

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Aroart

Love it when haters hate on Canon.. All you Canon haters simply go to any of DP's image comparison gallery and click on any face .. Canon 5dm3 Skin tones are so much nicer than any Nikon, Sony, Ext.. Fuji is prob the closest to the Beautiful color science .. No i'm not talking about landscape iq and dynamic range only skin tone rendition... Nikon and Sony might have a leg up on that dept...

Jul 2, 2016permalink

I'll take the olympus colors over all mentioned thank you.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

William Krusche

I can only agree on that 👍🏻

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Aroart

Wow thats so funny.. I actually had an Olympus Omd em5m2 and returned it after a week because the Iq for portraits was no were near the quality of my Fuji xe-1.. Not hating on Olympus they make great little cameras... I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Jul 3, 2016permalink

Edymagno

DPR is swarmed by gearheads. Understandably

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

Edgar_in_Indy

Doesn't he know that the Sony a6000 is a much better value???

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Shifter

For VCR's.

Jul 5, 2016permalink

JaimitoFrog

Of historic note, first digital official portrait of a US prez was Obama taken with a 5DII.

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

With a Sony sensor he could be doing those most excellent shadow pushes that are so critical to saving highlights and producing usable pictures, as every informed amateur knows. He must really struggle with that old inferior sensor, poor guy.

Shame on Canon for crippling these cameras and not giving them the dynamic range of next year's 5DIV or the 2020 1DX Mark III. But then Canon is strictly run by some dude in the Marketing Dept. who doesn't crave on-chip ADC new fab nanometer blah-blah like all real photographers do.

Before you start thinking that this Canon is a good camera, remember that pros often don't have a choice about which camera they use because their employers choose for them. They just run with whatever the boss hands them and can't say a bleep about. Oh yeah, and the cost of switching to a better brand like Sony would be too prohibitive for a pro with a vast inventory of lenses like this guy has. ;-)

P.S. But seriously, he's a great photographer!

Jul 1, 2016*permalink

Valiant Thor

Probably Obama picked this camera for him. The same Obama who picked Hillary (warlock) for Secretary of State and Valerie Jarrett (Muslim) as his Senior Advisor.

Jul 2, 2016*permalink

GRUBERND

also pros pretty often don't fuss about the things that are the meat&bones of photography clubs and forums. well, most of the time they don't.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Picturenaut

Sure you don't know who Sebastião Salgado is, Yake, just google him and his famous images. Or watch the movie "salt of the earth". There you (1) can learn what really great photography is (well, we all can learn a lot) and that (2) he uses Canon SLRs and DSLRs to shoot his stunning images. Does he stick with this uncool brand only because he can't afford a system change? I don't think so.

Jul 9, 2016*permalink

@Picturenaut My post above was 100% tongue in cheek, as indicated by the winky ;-). I have known of Salgado since about 1981. He is one of my favorite photographers. I have several of his books. I have seen the Salt of the Earth movie. I have heard him speak in person in NYC. I know that he switched to Canon gear part-way through his lengthy Genesis project.

Jul 9, 2016permalink

Picturenaut

Yake, sorry for the extremely delayed reply, I was off here for about a month because I prefer to spend my time more with photography, less with posting comments.

Sorry I missed your "tongue-in-cheek" point, maybe because it was late here in Germany and I was tired. I apologize much, in particular I "hit" a real Selgado fan. He's one of my fav photographers, too.

I think I am getting a bit to thin-skinned of all this Canon bashing, not because I am a fanboy (my current favorite is shooting film with a mid format Mamiya 6 system) but because of all those - sorry - idiots commenting every little news including the buzzword "Canon". So if you use Canon and you want to read something really useful here at DPR you have to delve through all this toxic nonsense. This is in fact one of the reasons I nearly quitted visiting DPR.

I think we both can deliberately agree that its not the gear or brand that makes a good photographer.

Aug 25, 2016*permalink

Oliver Bedford

Now, what's _really_ interesting, is that we learned in October 2015 that Pete Souza has ditched his Canon and shoots with a Sony A7RII. In June 2016 he's again shooting with the old and inferior Canon??? Apparently this guy hasn't even the slightest clue about photography.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

(unknown member)

He said he was trying it out. People took that and ran it

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Rumplestiltskin

A Canon user tried out a Sony but decided to stick with Canon. He definitely knew which photography tools are more suitable for him than a sensor fetish fellow.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Impulses

All fanboy-ism and ranting about DR and sensors aside... I think something like the e-shutter on a Sony mirrorless body would be mighty practical for a photog shooting tense moments like the one depicted here. I guess he might spend most of his time at far noisier affairs tho... Saw some photogs using A7 bodies during the NBA Finals post game conferences FWIW.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

He has also taken MANY photographs of President Obama with a Leica Digilux 2.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

SETI

According to the Flickr gallery he also uses 70-200mm and 16-35mm.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

brownie314

pffft. I am moving to a country that shoots images of the president with a mirrorless body. I am outta here.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Oliver Bedford

May I suggest North Korea? They are always using the latest and greatest tech (like, for example in cruise missiles and atom bombs) so it would be logical that they employ mirrorless for taking pictures of the supreme leader.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

MyReality

If you do that you will be homeless or you can start a new country where the use of mirrorless bodies by professionals may become even a SMALL minority.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Jonathan Brady

If you do move to North Korea, you'll also have the distinction of living in a country which was the first to fly a manned ship to Mars!

Jul 2, 2016permalink

brownie314

MyReality - yes, good idea. Start my own country...I like it. All moving shutters banned. And I will have the high position of a lifetime appointment of being - the presidential photographer.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

aftab

Why is Obama sitting in a corner and the other guy has a bigger and nicer chair?

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Impulses

I'm gonna guess he's actually doing something there (working comms or coordinating) whereas the president is just watching... Seems like the president stepped in while it was ongoing, isn't this when he went from the correspondent's gala straight to watching the Bin Laden op?

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Nikongirl7

I think the Pres arrived late and took whatever chair was left.
You'd think they wouldn't put Baby in the corner...

Jul 1, 2016permalink

(unknown member)

And what is with Hillary's pose? She looks like she could be passing gas. LOL

Jul 3, 2016permalink

whakapu

So all these high-powered meetings have been overlaid with the clunk of a 5D shutter.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Jonathan Brady

Silent mode is pretty awesome. It's not silent, but it's really quiet.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

JonBush

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of this moment from another angle (not sure who would have taken it), but I do clearly remember seeing Pete Souza holding his Fuji x100s...which has a very quiet shutter. Maybe he's required to check the 5D mkIII at the door and only allowed to use the Fuji in the Situation Room.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

J A C S

This photo is taken with the 5D2 and the 35L: https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5680724572/in/photostream

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Pretty sure I saw Elvis last night in my backyard.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

JonBush

Thanks JACS for the clarification and link. The X100 sighting was apparently from a different time in this room.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

"he uses a Fujifilm X100S in his downtime" -- non-work personal time, outside of the WH.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

hbjarna

If it's fit for the President then it' fine for me. Go Canon!

Jul 1, 2016permalink

kobakokh

then the photos of Obama looks like cartoons...

Jul 1, 2016permalink

TomCodyPleasedToMeetYa

A pro uses a Canon 5D3?

No doubt the amateurs on here will be pointing out that it is a dinosaur, has terrible DR, an ancient sensor, is a Canon and therefore to be despised.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

Most Pro's I know in the Press-Business still use a D200 or D300S along with the newer hardware. Seems to be still sufficient ;)

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Pete Souza composes well, picks the right moments and maintains perfect white-balance. I adore his photographs. And, yeah, there's nothing "wrong" with my 7D and 5D Mark III and a handful of lenses.

Jul 1, 2016permalink

photowurks

It's easy to do that when one stages one's photos.

Jul 2, 2016permalink

Go see his thousands of excellent images on Flickr and realize for yourself (if you can) how many of them are "staged."

Jul 2, 2016permalink

5Diii? I still like shooting the old 5Dii and there's nothing wrong with it!

Jul 2, 2016permalink