Photographer to the President

With US President Barack Obama visiting Australia it brings to mind just how differently the Americans approach political photography.

I’ve written before on the anachronistic rules that determine what Australian media photographers can and can’t do in the Parliament. Hardly open, transparent or free I think you’ll agree.

It affects TV too. During George W. Bush’s 2003 visit an American network filmed his address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament themselves, an act that was in flagrant defiance of the rules (they’re meant to take the official feed, you see). Well it’s a good thing they did, because it’s their vision we now rely on each time Bob Brown’s fairly famous interjection from that day gets revisited on Australian TV.

The Americans really do approach this stuff differently.

The White House has appointed official photographers to document the terms of each president since Johnson and that doesn’t just mean grip and grins. While we do have a government photographic service in Australia, by way of its differing role and more restricted access, the two are chalk and cheese.

The “Photographer to the President” is commissioned by him directly and is considered a senior staff appointment. Some have apparently had better access to their subject than his cabinet. That they let Pete Souza into the Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden kill-capture mission last May should tell you all you need to know.

All unfathomable in Australia. Although in fairness these people aren’t media photographers – they work for the government. But either way, when it comes to properly documenting the day to day business of governing, the Americans have a head start of fifty-odd years and counting.

UPDATE: Putin has one too (thanks Jon).

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receiving an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Photo by Pete Souza