White House photographer Pete Souza reveals what's in his bag

Congratulations to the OP on probably the dumbest comment on DPR this month...

"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.

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

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

In Russia, picture takes you.

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.

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

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.

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.

What a vacuous comment.

@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.

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.

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

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

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

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".

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

@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.

I can only agree on that 👍🏻

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

Pretty sure I saw Elvis last night in my backyard.

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