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Pete Souza, the chief official White House photographer for President Obama and an official White House photographer for President Reagan, delivered the 2018 Buchheit Family Lecture Wednesday at the University of South Carolina.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
Pete Souza, former chief official White House photographer for the Obama administration, told journalism students at the University of South Carolina Wednesday that the Trump administration has worsened the relationship between ordinary citizens and the press, at the expense of democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than ever I think the voices of journalists are extremely important,\u201d Souza said in a news conference with University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications (SJMC) students today. \u201cWe have a President who calls the press the enemy of the people and whose communications people say that there are alternate facts. There are not alternate facts. There are facts and truths. I think journalists are the ones to separate truth from fiction, fact from falsehood.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a relationship between politics and journalism that grows more tense by the day, Souza, 63, finds himself a \u201clittle disappointed\u201d in the American people\u2019s continued support of President Trump, and wants them to do their civic duty and \u201cget out the vote\u201d in the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get why people voted for Donald Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t get why people still support [him]. That has perplexed me quite a bit. Maybe I don\u2019t know people in this country as well as I thought I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Souza was studying to be a sports writer at Boston University when he discovered photojournalism. In addition to acting as photographer for President Obama, he was also national photographer for the Chicago Tribune, an official White House photographer for President Reagan and director of the White House photo office, and has published six photo books. Now, he is a professor at Ohio State University and has a second book in the works.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday evening, he was set to deliver the annual SJMC Buchheit Family Lecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he really values education and journalism and mass communication education and he has devoted a lot of his time to meeting students [here],\u201d SJMC Director Andrea Tanner said. \u201cWe are trying to teach all of our students to be great storytellers and he is a great visual storyteller.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Souza began his career in photojournalism, he shot on color negative film, developing grainy physical copies of his photos of Reagan using a range of chemicals. He photographed Obama strictly digitally, and, most recently, he tested the camera on the iPhone XS. His career has seen changes in fields other than technology, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fine to be pissed off at the press or a story that\u2019s written or what somebody says in a story, but neither [Reagan nor Obama] ever called the press the enemy of the people,\u201d Souza said. \u201cNeither one of them ever thought that we shouldn\u2019t have a First Amendment, or didn\u2019t believe in the freedom of the press. It\u2019s not normally like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The evolution that Souza perceives in politics is reflected in his recent work. \u201cShade: A Tale of Two Presidents\u201d is his second book, to be published on Oct. 16. In the book, selected headlines, quotes and tweets by Donald Trump from the first 500 days of his administration frame some of Souza\u2019s photographs of Obama, visually contrasting the two men. An exhibition of his photography entitled \u201cThrow Shade, Then Vote,\u201d also featuring contrasts of Obama and Trump, will go on display in October.<\/p>\n
Souza said he has a \u201cnew voice,\u201d one as a private citizen now that he is no longer a working photojournalist. However, his years of experience photographing the American people and their leaders give him a rare expertise in the field of journalism. His advice to young journalists was simple \u2013 be present, work hard and deliver the facts correctly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no secret, it\u2019s just a lot of work and a lot of experience, always being prepared and always being there,\u201d Souza said. \u201cEveryone makes mistakes, and journalists do too, but I think now we\u2019re at a point in the country where journalists have to be even more careful to make sure they\u2019re getting the story right because otherwise it\u2019s feeding into this narrative of fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, while Souza might feel disappointed in America in 2018, he is proud that the photographs he has taken of President Obama, President Reagan and other key figures and moments in American history will be seen by future generations. This contribution, even more than his feelings on the country and its current administration, is what he wants to leave with USC during his Columbia visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want people [at USC] to understand\u2026what the role of the White House photographer is and\u2026the importance of creating a visual archive for history,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only goal [I had] was to try to make interesting pictures, knowing that, someday, somebody will be looking at all of them, and trying to photograph in an authentic way, to really show what was taking place. I tried to never lose\u2026 the primary mission, that being that you\u2019re creating a visual archive of a presidency for history.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Souza_PW2_RP.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n
Former White House photographer Pete Souza spoke to University of South Carolina journalism students Wednesday at a news conference, covering photojournalism and the current divisive political climate.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Souza_PW3_RP-1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n
Pete Souza captured President Barack Obama with a young constituent in the Oval Office. Photo courtesy of the White House and Pete Souza.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Souza_PW4_RP.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n
Pete Souza captured President Barack Obama talking to a food truck operator. Photo courtesy of the White House and Pete Souza.<\/p>\n
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