每天跟隨總統(tǒng)左右的很多人都是為了保護他的生命安全，但是只有一個人的任務是用相機記錄總統(tǒng)的生活。皮特 · 索沙 （Pete Souza） 是現(xiàn)任白宮官方攝影師，平均每個月為奧巴馬拍攝2萬多張照片。大約50%的圖片刊登在白宮的 Flickr 頁面上。

去年5月份，他拍攝到奧巴馬在白宮局勢研究室 （Situation Room） 與國家安全隊的成員觀看空襲擊斃奧薩馬 · 本 · 拉登 （Osama bin Laden） 行動的照片。

John F. Kennedy had the first official White House photographer； he appointed Cecil W. Stoughton to the position. President Johnson allowed his official photographer， Yoichi Okamoto， to walk into the Oval Office unannounced， a right usually reserved for the President’s aides. From then on， every President but Jimmy Carter has appointed a photographer to the role.

“Prior to JFK we had Eisenhower， and there was no need for a photographer，” Cecil Stoughton said in an interview with National Geographic. “He was about 63 years old and he didn’t have the charisma and charm of President Kennedy， and he didn’t have a young family that engaged the American public.”

Yoichi Okamoto “had a unique character with L.B.J.， but he also was a great photographer， he really tried to document for history， and he set the bar really high，” Pete Souza told Haaretz. “His work is the one I look up to and admire.”

Not every President was excited to have a personal photographer. On the night of his resignation speech， President Nixon restricted his photographer， Oliver Atkins， from taking photos. “Ollie had very limited access，” David Hume Kennerly told The Statesman. “This will give you some idea： The most requested photo of his is Nixon with Elvis Presley.”

President Ford appointed David Hume Kennerly as Chief Photographer， and the two shared a unique relationship. “At the end of every day President Ford almost always invited me to come up and have a drink，” Kennerly said in the National Geographic special “The President’s Photographer.”

“I wasn’t the chief photographer for President Reagan—I was staff—so I didn’t have the same access then that I do now，” Pete Souza told Digitial Photo Pro. “The chief photographer Mike Evans hired the staff， and I was one of them. I had a prior relationship with President Obama that I didn’t have with President Reagan. Reagan was close to 50 years older than me when I first worked at the White House， and now， I’m a few years older than President Obama.”

“I saw myself documenting history，” David Valdez said in a Daily Texan interview. “I was there during hard times like when Bush Sr.， called Clinton to congratulate his victory but also during happy times like when Bush’s grandchildren were born.”

“All of it depends on the principal having someone shadowing him all the time， how comfortable they are having someone around，” Bob McNeely told The Statesman. “Clinton liked having people with him.”

“Most of [9/11] felt like being in a nightmare—having the job of being an observer with a camera helped me deal with it emotionally，” Eric Draper said in an online chat. “Seeing the strength of the President carried me through the day. I knew it was very important to thoroughly document every moment that I could including marking times on a notepad of when things happened because these photos will be critical [for] historians looking back at this day years from now.”

“Pete and I are friends at this point，” Obama said in “The President’s Photographer.” “He’s seen me on difficult days and he’s seen me on happy days. Pete really does feel like part of the family.”

“I feel like I’m the luckiest S.O.B. photographer in the world，” Souza said. “I’m not going to let these years go by without making the most of it.”