Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/10/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]- --On Tuesday, October 22, 2002 10:12 PM -0400 Emanuel Lowi <mano@proxyma.net> wrote: > B. D. Colen wrote: > > "As to later WH photographers - site lines may be an issue, but I think > there are two more important issues... > Real WH photography began with JFK - then LBJ had a photographer with > great access, and so on..." > > I have been under the impression (perhaps mistaken) that Gerald Ford was > the first Prez to have a full-time photog documenting his every move: > David Hume Kennerly (who was a Leica M4/M5 user). > > Even if Ford wasn't exactly the real deal, in my book Kennerly was/is a > thoroughly skillful shooter. The way I understand it is this: LBJ was the first to have an official WH photographer who actually had the title. In later administrations, this evolved into an actual WH Photo Department, which worked under the WH press secretary. There were other photographers hired to staff the department; they had their own lab, etc. Previously I believe this was handled by the Navy, which continued to staff the motion picture end of things. The WH photo department covers every grip and grin, every social occasion, everything that goes on at the White House. The WH Photographer heads up the department, but is not immune from having to cover grip and grin events himself. At a big event, they will have several photographers working. I was at a dinner at the WH last year and Leicas (albeit with motor drives) were definitely in use :-). During the Ford adminstration, David Kennerly definitely took the job to a new level and established a consistently high esthetic level in his coverage. The establishment of the official job was different from the unofficial relationships that Presidents had with certain photographers who were granted extraordinary access. Two cases in point would be Stan Tretick during the Kennedy administration and Fred Maroon during the Nixon administration. To keep the post on topic, both preferred Leicas :-). I have no idea who Bush's WH photographer is. On reflection, that probably shouldn't be surprising since we've seen virtually no output. - -- Rolfe Tessem rolfe@ldp.com Lucky Duck Productions, Inc. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html