Photographing A President

This was originally published on my Substack on MAY 31, 2023.

I’ve had the opportunity to photograph President Biden twice in the last month, once as part of Howard University’s commencement ceremony and then last Friday as part of NCAA championship winner’s visit to The White House. During each of these events, I got to be part of a large pool of fellow photographers and videographers, ranging from The White House press pool to photographers from the top media outlets. Being among such a large group, and sectioned into a small space, getting a decent shot becomes much harder task. During last week’s event, this was especially the case during the LSU women’s basketball team.

Packed in the back of the East Room, there were photographers who were on ladders and step stools, riser platforms, videographers with tall monopods and tripods to capture, all of us trying to get a position to capture a clear image above the crowd that had gathered. Many of us were carrying two camera bodies, one equipped with a wider angle lens and the other with a lens that could reach a 200mm or more range. This was the case for myself, my Fujifilm X-T5 with a 23mm lens and my Sony Alpha 7R IV with a 70-200mm lens. With such a small space to move our arms and all of this equipment, the struggle was waiting to get a clear photo of the President as he was speaking.

This became the process of the day - small space to work in, limited windows to create an image and then making sure that we press photographers weren’t in each others frames. I’m very proud of the images that came out of The White House visit.