The "44" Story

One of Carol's favorite Christmas presents.

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at the coffee-table book that my wife got for Christmas from our son, Tad.  Unbelie- vable book with the simple title "44" emblazoned on the dark blue cloth cover.  The dustcover bears the likeness of President Barack Obama with the subtitle being "OBAMA - AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT.   Oh, how I would have loved to have had a job as photographer Pete Soza had for eight years.  

This photo shows the actual cloth book binding.

Of course, every photographer in the country would have loved being the photo- grapher for the President of the United States and having 24/7 access to the President in order to capture history as it happened during Obama's presidency.  Carol had heard that the book was going to be released before Christmas so she put it on her "wish list" for myself and our children.  Tad was the first to ask, "What does mom want?" so he ended up getting her perhaps her favorite gift this Christmas.  

The author of the book with President Obama.

As I sat down to examine the book I was amazed at the size of the book.  Read that the Mr. Soza took just shy of two million photos during his eight years of shadowing the President.  That's almost 2,000,000 photos!  As I read the book's "Intrtoduction" I got to understand the photographer a bit more and realized how much of a job he really had, but also how thrilling and rewarding the job must have been.  While working as a photographer for the Chicago Tribune, Pete was assigned to cover Illonois' new U.S. Senator.  

One of Mr. Souza's earlier books featuring President Reagan.

The date was January 5, 2005 when he took his first image of 43 year-old Obama.  He claims that 24 hours later he had his first thought of "what if."  In 2007 he began covering Obama's Presidential campaign run, but in the summer of that year, he resigned and began teaching photojournalism at Ohio University.  That was until one Sunday evening in 2009 when Press Secretary Gibbs called and offered him the job of Chief Official White House Photographer.  

One of many famous images from the book.  This photograph
shows the President monitoring the mission in real time with
his National Security team on May 1, 2011.

He told Gibbs that he would need assurance that he would have total access to everything from classified meetings to family events to times when important papers are signed.  He was assured that would happen.  He had worked as a "Junior Photographer" During President Reagan's time, but wanted to emulate his hero, photographer Yoichi Okamoto who was Johnson's photographer who covered all aspects of the President and not just special ceremonies.  

Another favorite is this little 5-year-old that wanted
to know if the President's hair felt like his.  Pete managed
to take the shot at the exact moment the boy felt his head.

Well, he got his wish.  10-12 hour days were spent with the President as well as time in the Oval Office, on Air Force One, in the Situation Room and in the family's living quarters.  He became not only President Obama's photographer, but one of his best friends.  One of his wishes after Obama finally left the White House was that he had been a bit younger when he started the job.  Must have been so physically challenging that you thought you just couldn't take another day of it.  Well, his reign as Official White House Photographer is now over and he now is sharing his historical story of the United States as seen through his eyes and camera.  And, it is AMAZING!!  Oh, how I wish I could have been the photographer for one of our Presidents!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This is my favorite which shows the President in Rio de Janeiro standing in front of the statue atop Concovado Mountain known as Christ the Redemmer.  Just a beautiful photo with just the right amount of mystery to it.