Peter Joseph Souza (born December 31, 1954) is an American

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

, the former

Chief Official White House Photographer The official White House photographer is a senior position appointed by the president of the United States to cover the president's official day-to-day duties. There have been twelve official White House photographers. Since the beginning of the ...

for

Presidents of the United States The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and the former director of the White House Photography Office. He was a photographer with ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', stationed at the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, bureau from 1998 to 2007; during this period he also followed the rise of then-

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Obama to the presidency.

Early life

Souza was born in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and grew up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, the son of a nurse and a boat mechanic. He is of Portuguese ancestry; both sets of his grandparents emigrated from the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. Souza graduated ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in public communication from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in journalism and mass communication from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Career

Early career

Souza started his career in the 1970s in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

at the ''Chanute Tribune'' and the ''

Hutchinson News ''The Hutchinson News'' is a daily newspaper serving the city of Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. The publication was awarded the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service "for its courageous and constructive campaign, culminating in 1964, to bri ...

''. In the early 1980s, he was a photographer for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''.

With Ronald Reagan

He served as an official White House photographer for President

from June 1983 until 1989. He was also the official photographer for the funeral services of Ronald Reagan in 2004. Pete-Souza-2022

At the end of the Reagan administration, Souza continued to be based in

Between 1998 and 2007, he was a photographer for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' Washington, D.C., bureau. Souza has also worked as a freelancer for ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' and ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazines. After the

September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

, he was among the first journalists to cover the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

and the fall of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

With Barack Obama

In 2004,

Jeff Zeleny Jeffrey Dean Zeleny (born June 10, 1973) is an American journalist and the Chief National Affairs Correspondent for CNN. He previously was Senior Washington Correspondent for ABC News. During his newspaper career, he won a Pulitzer Prize with th ...

, now a political correspondent for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, asked Souza to take photographs for a project documenting Barack Obama's first year as

U.S. senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. Souza covered Obama's arrival to the Senate in 2005 and met him for the first time on Obama's first day in the Senate. He documented Obama's time in the Senate, following him in many foreign trips, including those to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. In the process he not only became close to Senator Obama, he ended up following his rise to the presidency. In July 2008, Souza published a bestseller

photo-book A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book. Early Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...

''The Rise of Barack Obama'', featuring photographs between 2005 and 2008. Souza was an assistant professor of photojournalism at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

's School of Visual Communication. After the November 2008 election, he was asked to become the official White House photographer for his second time for the new President-elect Obama. On January 14, 2009, the new

presidential portrait Beginning with painter Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington, it has been traditional for the president of the United States to have an official portrait taken during their time in office, most commonly an oil painting. This tradition h ...

was released; it is the first time that an official presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera. A week later Souza was present at the inauguration and the following day he was the only photographer present for Obama's second swearing-in on Obama's first workday in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped room ...

. In May 2009, Souza began using

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

as an official conduit for releasing White House photos. The photos were initially posted with a

Creative Commons Attribution A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

license which required that the original photographers be credited. Flickr later created a new license which identified them as "United States Government Work" which does not carry any copyright restrictions. In 2010, ''

'' produced a program about Souza titled ''The President's Photographer,'' which featured Souza as the main subject while also covering the previous White House photographers. Souza's photograph taken at 4:05 pm on May 1, 2011, in the

Situation Room The Situation Room, officially known as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room, is a conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the ...

during the raid on Osama bin Laden, featuring Obama,

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Joe Biden, Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, and others, quickly became an iconic image. It also became one of the most viewed images on Flickr. Souza's 2009 image of a five-year-old child, Jacob Philadelphia, touching Obama's head has also become iconic. Jacob asked if Obama's hair was similar to his and the image has become symbolic of the African American struggle for civil rights. As the official White House photographer, Souza traveled with the president to document each meeting, trip and encounter for historical record. Along with his staff, Souza produced up to 20,000 pictures a week. Souza's team included

David Lienemann David Lienemann (born ) is an American photographer. He was the official White House photographer for Joe Biden during the eight years that he served as Vice President of the United States. In the course of his role, Lienemann took nearly one ...

, the official photographer for Joe Biden, and

Lawrence Jackson Lawrence Christopher Jackson (born August 30, 1985) is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played colleg ...

(later the official photographer for Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

). In November 2011, Souza was included on ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

''s list of Washington's most-powerful, least-famous people. In October 2013, Souza and his wife, Patti Lease became the 18th couple to get married at the White House. As well as using very high end cameras for his presidential photography, Souza occasionally took square shots on his iPhone.

Post-Obama administration

In 2017, Souza received a book deal from

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

to publish a book of photos from his tenure as White House photographer titled ''Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs''. Upon

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

as president in 2017, Souza began sharing pictures of Obama on his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account, often as critical commentary on the new administration. In April 2017, he had over one million

followers, and reached two million followers in August 2018 as he continued to critique the Trump presidency through contrasting photographs of Obama. In 2018, he announced the release of a new book titled '' Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents'', juxtaposing the Obama and Trump administrations. In late 2019, Pete Souza and his family moved to

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. Souza's work in and after the Obama administration is also the subject of the 2020 documentary '' The Way I See It.''

Opinions on subsequent Chief Photographers

In January 2021, Souza gave advice to

Adam Schultz Adam Schultz (born ) is an American photographer and the chief official White House photographer for the presidency of Joe Biden. Career Schultz worked for the Clinton Foundation in New York City from 2007 until 2013. He served as a photogra ...

, the incoming Chief Official White House Photographer for President Joe Biden. He also noted that the photographer for outgoing President Trump, Shealah Craighead, had posted "very few behind the scenes pictures" to Flickr during her tenure.

Recognition

In 2021 Souza was inducted into the

International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri honors those who have made great contributions to the field of photography. History In 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, California and a f ...

Photographs

File:Ronald Reagan 1985 presidential portrait.jpg, Second-term official portrait of

, June 1985 File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg, First-term official portrait of

, January 2009 File:United States President Barack Obama bends down to allow the son of a White House staff member to touch his head.jpg, ''

Hair Like Mine ''Hair Like Mine'' is a 2009 photograph by Pete Souza of a five-year-old child, Jacob Philadelphia, touching the head of Barack Obama, then president of the United States. He invited Philadelphia to touch his hair after the boy asked whether Ob ...

'' (2009) depicts Obama bending down to allow a child to touch his hair in the

File:Obama and Biden await updates on bin Laden.jpg, The ''

'' (2011) by Souza became one of the most-viewed on

. File:President Barack Obama.jpg, Second-term official portrait of Barack Obama, December 2012

Photo books

* ''Unguarded Moments: Behind-the-scenes Photographs of President Reagan'', Tapestry Pr, 1997. * ''Plebe summer at the U.S. Naval Academy: photographs''. P. Souza, 2003. * ''Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan'', Triumph Books, 2004. . * ''The Rise of Barack Obama'', Triumph Books, 2009. . * ''The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office'', with John Bredar. National Geographic, 2010. . * ''Obama: An Intimate Portrait'', Little, Brown and Company, 2017. . * '' Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents'', Little, Brown and Company, 2018. .

References

External links

*
"Unguarded Moments"
of President Ronald Reagan
Official White House Flickr Photostream
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souza, Pete 1954 births Living people People from New Bedford, Massachusetts Boston University College of Communication alumni Kansas State University alumni American people of Portuguese descent White House photographers Chicago Tribune people American photojournalists Ohio University faculty Chicago Sun-Times people Reagan administration personnel Obama administration personnel Photographers from Massachusetts Writers from Massachusetts People from Dartmouth, Massachusetts