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Introduction
Pete Souza is the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama, and the Director of the White House photo office. In this timeline, we have posted some of Souza's most important accomplishments throughout his photojournalism career. Source: http://www.petesouza.com -
The Start of His Photojournalism Career
Pete Souza began his career as a photojournalist for Chanute Tribune and Hutchinson News in Kansas. Source: http://cjonline.com/arts-entertainment/2013-12-28/kansan-year-photojournalist-takes-us-inside-white-house-walls -
Souza And D.C. Beginnings
After working a staff photographer position at the Chicago Sun Times, he served as an official White House photographer for Ronald Reagan during his second term from 1983-1989. He continued work for the Chicago Tribune at the DC bureau and in 2004, he was asked to begin documenting Barack Obama's first year as a U.S. Senator. Source: http://www.rsvlts.com/2016/07/05/obama-favorite-photos/ -
Freelance Work and Publishing
Souza worked as a freelance photojournalist from 1989-1997. In 1992, he produced and published "Unguarded Moments: Behind-the-Scenes Photographs of President Reagan," a book about his years in the White House. Part of his later freelance work included shooting for the National Geographic and Life magazines. Some of his photographs have also been published in Fortune, Newsweek and the U.S. News & World Report. Source: http://www.petesouza.com/content.html?page=3 -
Continuing in D.C.
Souza worked as a photographer for the Chicago Tribune/Washington, D.C, Bureau from 1998-2007. One of his final photos for the Chicago Tribune was a shot of then Sen. Barack Obama after announcing his candidacy for President of the United States at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-barack-obama-springfield-speech-bruce-rauner-20160208-story.html -
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication
In 2007, Souza started as an assistant professor of visual communication for Ohio University. He is still employed there but is on an extended leave due to his current work with the Obama Administration. Source: https://www.ohio.edu/outlook/08-09/January/248.cfm -
"The Rise of Barack Obama" Published
Pete Souza created a bestseller photo-book called "The Rise of Barack Obama," that documented Obama's presidential life between 2005 and 2008. More than 80 percent of the photographs published in the book had never been seen before by the public. Source: Amazon's book description: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Barack-Obama-Pete.../1600781632 -
The Presidential Portrait Digitalized
Souza captures a portrait of Obama with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, making it the first U.S. presidential portrait ever taken with a digital camera. Source: https://www.engadget.com/2009/01/14/president-obamas-official-portrait-the-first-ever-taken-with-a/ -
Obama Begins His First Day as President
Souza captures President Obama entering the Oval Office for his first official day as America's 44th president. Though the first day on a job is a nerve-racking experience, Souza was ready to photograph Obama standing upright and confident in his leadership abilities. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-photos-pictures-president-2016-10/#president-obama-and-first-lady-michelle-obama-shared-a-moment-at-the-inaugural-ball-on-january-20-2009-2 -
Flickr Account Created
Pete Souza created a Flickr account as a place to show thousands of everyday photos of Obama to the American public. This created more transparency about the president but since Souza was the only photographer uploading these photos, people questioned whether these photos were authentic or only showed Obama in a positive light (this was said in a lecture). Source: The White House Flickr https://www.flickr.com/.../whitehouse/ -
PBS Documentary on Souza's Success
PBS airs a documentary on Souza's work. The video takes you behind the scenes with Souza and shows some of the work he has done out of the tens of thousands photographs taken each month. Source: http://petapixel.com/2010/11/30/pbs-documentary-about-pete-souza-work-as-white-house-photographer/ -
'The Situation Room' Captured
This iconic photo was taken during the raid on Osama bin Laden, which features Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Clinton. They are all looking at live feed from drones operating over the bin Laden complex. This photo became the most viewed photo on Flickr. Source: Flickr description of this photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5680724572 -
Making His Mark
On November 2011, Souza was included on The New Republic's list of Washington's most-powerful, least-famous people. Source: http://english.donga.com/List/3/03/26/754735/1
