three former white house photographers talk about their work with president george w. bush, bill clinton, and brock obama. they share photographs showing these presidents in their public and private moments. we also see first families and white house staff and hear the stories behind each scene. the event is about one hour and 40 minutes. >> good evening everyone and how is everyone doing tonight? excellent. led to here. i am the educator and public programs manager here and welcome to the evening's event photographing the president which is part of our public programming roster in support of our newest exhibition from other american libraries. this exhibition tells story of american history through

photography to the archives of the library of congress. through these photographs we tell the stories of the moments that shaped american history, both the well-known and least well-known. nothing shapes the narrative of what america represents like the president of the united states. tonight, we are so lucky to welcome to the stage three photographers who have worked as official photographers of the white house in the past three administrations. the three photographers have been in the room where it happened and they have the photograph to prove it. we will hear what it is like working alongside the president or the big and small moments. our moderator is the chief political correspondent for slate magazine and a local analyst for cbs news. he covers campaigns, lexical and national affairs.'s work occurs on the washington post, and

other publications. before slate, he was a staff writer at the daily beast. he is from virginia beach virginia and attended the university of virginia where he graduated with degrees in political and social thought and government. please join me in welcoming him to the state as well as sharon farmer, bill barry , and lawrence jackson. [ applause ]. >> hello there and thank you for coming out. i am going to introduce our wonderful panelists and to my immediate right is sharon farmer. sharon has been a professional photojournalist and expert photographer for more than 40 years shooting news stories, cultural events and portraits. most notably, sharon was the

first african-american woman to be hired as the white house photographer and develop the first african-american,[ applause ] >> develop the first african- american and first woman to become director of the white house photography office.[ laughter ][ applause ] >> she served as the director of the white house photography office and was a white house photographer from 1993 documented the beginning of the clinton-gore administration. next to sharon is eric draper. [ applause ] >> he served as the chief white house photographer for george w. bush during his entire eight years, photographing him daily

during his activities at the office and in his personal life. he was eventually named special assistant to the president and the first white house photographer to be named a commissioned officer to the u.s. president.[ applause ] >> during his tenure, he also directed the conversion of the white house office from film to digital and took nearly 1 million photos documented the presidency.[ applause ]said that last but not least is lawrence jackson.[ applause ] lawrence was covering local news and sports while joining the associated press in 2000. he covered capitol hill, the white house and sports teams

for seven more years. in march 2009 he became an official white house photographer and stayed until january 2017. . >> covering corporate photography . >> suck we have a lot of photos. but, before you get to those . >> it's not when we became white house photographers but the audience is curious to know how you became white house photog verse if you talk a little bit about how you got to that position . >> staying a long time was not

my thing, i played clarinet and bassoon in the house my mother would say you look lovely, let me get the camera. i'm practicing to get the scales down. i became a photographer because i went to a dark room one day with my buddies from ohio state university. [ cheering and applause ]. it was like magic. i love my music this is interesting. and i got excited . >> so what was the path from discovering the magic of the darkroom photographing the administration . >> being in a ibis. i have an fbi record, i say with pride. [ laughter ] because if you don't stand up for something, he will get done in by everything. >> michael white who was

president at the time said and i started working for a black student paper. we did everything were supposed to do to make it a democratic principle. thank heaven the members of the sorority felt the same way i did they didn't like what was going on either. so one thing does lead to another and when you're taking

pictures and folks are telling you how well you're doing, you don't know and your teachers are telling you that you not doing well because you're not doing their classwork. but i'm shooting everything in columbus ohio because i met a wonderful photographer named valentine and he worked for the post and everybody, babies and churches. okay. so i did that to. so, the more stuff i did the better i got at it. then i discovered i liked all that stuff that didn't matter what it was because it was photography. and as long as i could explore the campus in the city i didn't miss a beat. plus, did you know that taking pictures is fun? a real fun. so, the idea of working in the field that you get paid for, i died and went to heaven. and i still played my music, my dining room is a music room at

home. we get crazy in their. we jam and throw down. so when you do things with good people good things keep happening. hey, sharon, shoot this sunday school. sure . >> i shot a sunday school class and three years later he says i have a big job, your great photographer and i want you to get a job and they paid me $5000 for one day. so all i can say is you don't know what you do until you do it. being kind is the best thing we can do for each other. be kind. that's what happens. [ applause ] >> i didn't think i had an fbi record when i started but i don't actually know. [ laughter ] my story began in in my background i was a photographer covering every

story i could think of from campaigns to sports. and the 2000 campaign rolls around and it began as an assignment. i was the last one to get the assignment, covering texas governor george w. bush. so i said okay, but actually, my desire to pursue the right as didn't start until after the election. you might remember the recount. but if the election was decided that night i wouldn't have ended up in the white house because during the recount was when i decided to pursue the position. they say timing is everything. all the signs were green and i had the opportunity to ask the president elect, i was invited

to a christmas party in austin texas and i need to make a direct pitch so what i did was at the party, my wife was there and she was coaching me on the sidelines to make my move and i walked up and said thank you for inviting us to the party, by the way i want to be your personal photographer and i didn't blink. he looked at me like he never thought about it before and he said that i appreciate that. so there i am back in austin texas for the interview and the chief of staff offered me the job on the spot. the first question he said was that can you manage and i said yes. i had managed anything, by the way. but, i will never forget what he told me, working at the white house is like drinking water at a fire hose at full throttle and he was right. >>.

>> the chief of photographer called me up and said you i have your portfolio do you want to work for this administration and i said, sure. and that was it. pretty simple. >> was anything that prompted you to want to be chief of staff #>> yeah, i tell the story of election night, i was covering bush at the white house and, barack obama beat john mccain for the presidency and i went out to lafayette park and all these college kids are celebrating and chanting and the energy to the whole thing, i was transfixed. i was leaving home that night and i said to myself, if i can work for this president i'm

gonna do it. so, i told my wife i would apply and i applied and i said yes. i didn't get it and then pete said i want you to work for me. but it's funny because he said the job pays this much and i said how much? and he said this much. and i had to go back to my wife and i said it pays less and she said well i will get a job. i'll get a job so thanks to my wife. [ applause ] >> so, we are going to go through the photos we have here and chat about them i have some discussion and after all that we will go to the audience for questions. >> the first photo, i think you took this one i wasn't sure who took this but, can you just say

what's happening in this photo? >> so, they were doing test runs getting their readings and they invited us to the office to participate and take pictures. so we did four or five or six touchdowns and circled around the city and this is what they see every time they come into approach the landing. and guessing for you, you took similar photos to this . >> i take the exact same photo like four years ago. >> but, it's an incredible view . it's one-of-a-kind. , it's incredible. be my phone

-- it's fun to try to figure out where to be before anybody starts. no one tells me what to do so i have to figure it out animals looking for composition. never forget about what makes strong photography that you're only good is your last picture. i'm always moving around because i not only have the peers i work with that are journalists but i have my crew. so the head photographer when we started was bob mc neely then barbara and then me. so, we are having a blast, competing with each other taking pictures because when you compete you keep getting better. never turned in that petition. you want to see what you can do for yourself and compete with somebody.

>>. the fun stuff about being a fly on the wall is to read the paper the next day so this way in a the media wasn't cool either. some of them are my friends but those are the writers messing up. when you have to do visuals, picture is still worth 1000 words. stuff is going off i'm a fly on the wall, i hear everything but i don't keep it. >> this moment here was taken

in march 2003, remember the time of the administration, there was a time that bush decided to go to war in iraq. this photo was made right after he made that decision which was made in the situation room minutes before the photo was taken. i never forget that day because it was so intense leading up to that moment. i was standing outside the situation room, waiting for the meeting to and in the door swings open and he pulls out of the room and i see his face and his eyes are full of tears. i had to jump out of the way to take a picture or he would've collided with me and he walked through the oval office, didn't talk to anyone and walk the entire length of the lawn with the dogs. i decided to hold back, he was very emotional, i didn't know exactly what was happening so i waited and you can see the weight of that decision still on his face.

he spoke to me right after the picture and said eric, are you interested in history and all i said was yes sir, it was very unusual for him to talk to me and he said these pictures are very important one in the situation room and one on the south lawn. just as he said that i made a frame right after this of the vice president and the secretary of defense coming out of the oval office. he walks over and they're discussing the timing of the start of the war and it's very intense . >> so, this group of photos, they're very fly on the wall shots and i'm curious to know, just the experience of being invisible of a sort, being latching and observing, but trying not to be intrusive but talk about the experience of being there . >> you know when you walk into

the campus it's government, and this government is mighty and it takes care of a lot of issues, not only in our country but around the world. the intensity of being a fly on the wall means you don't want anybody responding to anything you will lose anything you've tried to edge towards. i carry a lot of gear but if i got stuck in a place i thought i needed to stay at i had a choice of cameras. i have choices of lenses and two cameras around my neck, i have quiet and panoramic so when they start to get down with the get down they can't hear me move and i'm really at wyatt mover to all that karate set to during the years in my gear, paid off. i'm smooth, i don't bounce or break anything, so they forget

i'm there i'm concentrating on the pictures i'm a fly, a piece of the furniture, just understanding that you are getting what no one else is getting and whether it ever gets seen, everything will get seen that's the fun about being a photographer. you may be dead but you go on. >> it's a very unique role in the white house because every other physician is there to interact with the president and our job is to be the professional observer. sometimes were too close to the situation. fly on the wall can be annoying they are custom to your presence and trust your presence

, if you are not there, and actually brings, part of the job is being there, watching trying to stay awake and then some days are intense, but it depends on the situation. >> for me, the obama's were what we called naturals. they were always just themselves and when you're taking pictures, they're aware of the camera being there but they don't really care about the camera. it helps us do our job easier. i think you will see some of the pictures you can see them being themselves and it does seem like there's a camera in the room. >> i can't remember the name but they did an interview, a

fly landed on his shoulder. [ laughter ] and he was so quick, he killed it. but he kept going on for the interview and then after the interview is over he took out a tissue and picked up the fly. , that is such an on the nose straight up obama but if you hadn't told me i wouldn't have believed it. >> . >> it was mrs. clinton's birthday were coming from the mansion for the celebration and everything is key on both sides of the offices, in the shot. it's a happy time and things are getting done and this is what i know. i still picture myself every day, i could stop in washington d.c. i'm that me being there is

an aberration and i know that. it must be a new day for real, because i was worried when everything else was going on with the other president because they didn't spend time in dc. that they love to go out to restaurants and eat. it was so cool, dc and atlanta, all right. . >> this was taken the first week of the administration. a lot of us know president bush, he's very timely, he hated to be late. he always left on time or early so this is a good illustration of that was lucky to be in the

right place at the right time and literally raise the camera luckily no one was walking looking to the door. . >> that was a leader call, i couldn't tell you who they were but whatever the issue is, he has people coming in brief him on the topic and then he takes the call i don't know why he has such a serious look on his face, i can't remember. >> i say he has a serious look because all kind of stuff is going on. yugoslavia has broken up and things are happening and what's next? people are giving advice about what to do and i'm fortunate because i do carry different

lenses, i can pull up whatever i think i need to make it work. i'm waiting on the shot if you shoot the shot before you're ready, when you're ready to shoot it it's too late. have to lay on it. you hunting but you're not gonna hurt nothing. you want your first shot to be the one.. >> so, the president was about to decide or decided to go in that moment right there. before he came into the room he was just a typical morning before who is about to get on marine one and take off but i

could tell there was a lot of nervousness and energy and i felt something was off for about to happen so the president comes in the room and about that far away i take two shots. it's happened before, no big deal but then you find out sunday night, when he goes on the air and says we've got osama bin laden that was the moment he decided to say the mission is ago. so . >> the one thing i like about this sequence is that it seems to capture the presidency in various state a very serious and somber, whimsical with the clintons and bush and cheney. so, my question for all of you

is, could you just talk about the emotional tone of being around the president. every day is not serious, every day is not a loose lighthearted day. it's a job and like all jobs there are highs and lows. so, what is it like to be there ? i think the public has a decent idea of what it's like to be around the president but you know, not much is going on . >> first it's an office of serious responsibilities and as the photographer part of the documentation of it. you are charged with capturing everything, not just a little bit, this is going down with

somebody else. another national security person or the secretary of state is coming into business, there's things going on even if there's a low, or editing pictures to get them out to the folks that have to have them, otherwise we get back up and that is no fun, where my photos. you've just come back from a big trip and you don't have laugh stuff stand. we switched from what's out there i came in and all my sheets were gone and i had a computer on my desk. i don't want a computer, but you have to have a computer. i don't want to computer. i fought them off for six months

>> i know why some pictures are more important than other pictures. and also, looking at the little eyelids, are your eyes open question mark i don't take pictures of people with spoons hanging out of their mouth, if you're blinking, scratching your nose, i'm not shooting not. i will wait on you. so the most humorous part is 100 times it's going, talking about whatever it is that's important. and, the people that we are human. >> i think it's one of those things where you study someone for so long, i studied for eight years and i can literally listen to his voice and know

what mood he's in. i can study micro-expressions to know what he's thinking about to the point where we have a nonverbal communication in terms of when i should be there and little hiding areas where you couldn't see me. i would come out at certain times but some days are like an emotional roller coaster. the morning started out seriously because the first thing the president agreed was the debt matrix. so right off the bat the president is reading a serious document, then from there, and then it can go to a meeting with the elementary school teacher of the year or it can go to the situation room for crisis. it's a roller coaster and that

made it really interesting , to follow the story throughout the day because there's so many stories going on every day in front of you was a story, but look behind you and there are stories stories about staff stories of the president senior aides going through some of the same emotions that there are lots of stories going on so sometimes it's hard to focus on the president was so much going on around you. it's like disneyland for photography, like every day, i could pick a story to follow and it would get ill because of the monotony but all you had to do is have a cup of coffee and then you see another story to follow and it was great. i loved it . >> a lot of what eric said is

the president sets the tone. if he's in a good mood you try to be in a good mood. if you focus on something, you just follow the queue with that. also, he goes from the situation room and matches the tone of each meeting with the right energy, right words, right everything. that is tough. it's an emotional roller coaster trying to meet the needs of the situation all the time . >> next photo. >> >> this is a big meeting and we have lots of things going on but at the end of the meeting and everyone else mild to. some things do turn all all right when they're difficult but the tone and the mood.

this guy like to have a good time and his mom likes to have a good time and this is serious stuff that would happen. then everybody would tried to get healthcare past and they would try to get some country to agree to take refugees and they would worry about what was going to blow up next because somebody hadn't spoke with someone else. were watching this stuff and we don't get this that often at all because you ought to be you all would be scared to death if you saw and heard what i did. oh my god. lord. and my partner would say, what's wrong with you? you get to hear things no one else gets to hear and you see things and interactions from the staff as they try to get along and what you have is a

big huge sandpit. you have to decide what kind of sand you want to stand on to make sure you get your picture and the only person that's my boss is the president, and i remember one guy who hadn't been there but a month and said i can go now and i went up to him and whispered i don't work for you. [ laughter ] >> six months later, he was gone. >> when you're with somebody every day, i like getting up early to catch the plane on air force one. the food is good, the gum lottery is wonderful and we don't have to go through tsa. [ laughter ] >> think this was 2009, the

first meeting. i think the body language is everyone is trying to get their point across. and in this point the president is trying to make his point and everyone is listening. this was when they caught dillon roof, the young man who killed nine churchgoers he was waiting to be announced to go make a statement to the press. >> socks and buddy the dog, this is after a run. if you came in at 7 am, he did

his job. and you started with him. if you came at 8 am here with mrs. clinton all day, and you may be traveling all day. if you came in at noon you don't know when you're going home because if they had guess staying at the house, he had gotten so good about the history of the white house, he would tell you stuff and even do research on his own to tell you stuff about the house you didn't know. he's a wonderful guy with everything i love cats and dogs and i think everyone should be treated fairly. he's allergic to cats but he picked the cat up. >> that's president bush with barney. he calls barney the son he never had. you might remember barney.

this is another situation where president bush allowed me to photograph him during his personal time, including early on in the administration, later on he started biking, but it's just a personal moment, just like any of us with our pets. >> that his bow. we were about to do an event with the first lady, i couldn't tell you where but, bo was a great dog . >> that was he had just said

goodbye to a world leader and was walking back into the oval office. >> how did you get up there? >> there's a staircase . >> really? [ laughter ] there's lots of things that that was a secret . >> the presence of the pets, how much are you thinking of trying to humanize the presidents cannot to just capture them while they're working in an office but with their pets and their families . >> trying to photograph them to humanize them and not simply as symbols of authority. the photo of bush with his dog, it's a very vulnerable photograph, not a position you normally see that kind of a leader in,

>> that's the difference about the kind of photography. were documentarians, what they do is what we shoot. so he and the dog together, you're the photographer. if you miss the shot you will kick yourself for the rest of your life. if you see something you don't wait on whether or not you have permission to none of that. none of us are thinking about humanizing somebody got their already human. you see them when they're upset and when they're angry about things that are going okay and you see when someone hasn't done what they were supposed to do, why things aren't working. that's not good. so, we are not discriminating about anything, we are historians, digital historians and we document what we see. not telling him to his pick a

dog up or kiss your dog, were behind-the-scenes trying to show what real life is not to show it shows we are cowards, were not cowards were serious photojournalists who've turned in to serious documentarians, documenting things that will be encyclopedias, maybe, but now that i'm older, all of this stuff will stand the test of time in some way. lord knows given the computers and how many images they hold that we can get over done with images. but, humanizing, they are already human, all we are doing is taking their picture . >> i think we just take the picture and leave it up for everyone else to decide what it is . >> one of the things is establishing a relationship that allows you access to document these personal moments.

can't just open the door and say hey come in, it does take time for them to warm up to you and trust you and that is part of the job. but it's there decision to open their eyes and have the opportunity to document the president as a father, a dog owner, son, a texan, lots of personal time on ranches. >> they were all over dc and the fun part was when guests would come not quite in shape and they would call back to the van or some of the agents weren't quite in shape and you would see them getting on board the van, they couldn't finish the run, that was fun because they were jostling for positions out on the corner, it's some of

the best times because the guy is running, he seriously running in the agents are running to. it's very cool . >> suck one of the things we decided him he was always with the president and we had a hard time getting it or amanda, we tried to do everything in one of the ideas was document the cabinet secretaries, so this trip was with the transportation the and we went across the country during different types of events so i think that we did may be 78 or

nine, it was like photograph a and this is one of the pictures . >> that's the final cabinet shot , on the front lawn, the first camber run was done by bob mcneely but what else can be done. we haven't tried the lawn out in front. this is our last shot it took time to get everybody's schedule together and then you had to deal with secret service, the military, the guys that move the furniture, the head usher of the white house, you have to talk to the gardener to make sure you don't step on plant because you want to make everybody happy. i have to talk to everybody to make sure it's all on board. besides having them out there like that we have to the stuff around and we also do mock

stuff to make sure it's all right first. two days before i had different stuff come out and sit and pretend to be one person or another to make sure this would work. so, it's fun trying to set stuff up. remember yourself as a portrait studio, all of the wonderful cabinet people, men and women. . >>. this is the cabinet, go in there. go do something else, but go in there for that one it's the last shot. this is the stuff that goes on and you put it big light everyone is equally lit we shot in color and black and white. i like the black and white better than the color . >> any particular reason?

>> i'm a black and white girl. [ laughter ] >> this photo was taken on the first day of the administration. this is january 20, 2001. this is george bush sitting down at the oval office desk for the first time and what i like about this picture here is you have several layers, that personal moment, the proud father watching his son and the history of two presidents together, only the second son of the president to become president of the story behind the story you see the cord coming from the wall while that was a massage chair. [ laughter ] >> i don't know who left it there but he was turning the chair on which led to laughter at that moment and the chair

was not on the next morning . >> >> this is the second inauguration. he had just given his address and he went up the steps and he takes a couple steps back to look at the crowd one last time and it's one of my favorite photos because he's taking it all in one last time. [ applause ] >> this is 9/11 when i was with president bush at the elementary school in sarasota florida that morning and, what's interesting is you see the time on the clock with is around 925 and i didn't know exactly what was happening

until i walked into the room to see live pictures and i was waiting for bush to stop and stare at the television, everyone was shot seeing the horrific image and then dan bartlett is pointing in the photo, he was alerting everyone in the room because they were seeing the first replay of the second tower getting hit and i'm in the frame right after this were bush turns to see the image that's burned in everyone's memory.. i was with president bush the entire day and this picture was taken as we have broached andrews air force base after spending all day on the airplane we stop and burkesville louisiana and we stopped in nebraska and as we

approached, it was shocking to see the fighter jets touching the wings of air force one. you can see the pentagon still smoldering so it was very shocking as we approached and later that week, 9/11 seemed like a long day, that entire week but this is a day that bush toured ground zero and this is a famous bullhorn moment and a retired firefighter is with him to mark the spot for him to stand and the president told him you stay here with me

and the moment must purely organic. bush was hugging all the firefighters and you can feel the moment building in a's hugging the firefighters and their crying with them and this is day four and the firefighters are frustrated and they wanted him to do something , they're saying go get him george and that's when he came in with the famous line i can hear you and you will hear from all of us soon . >> and again the same day after the bullhorn moment, such an emotional roller coaster, probably one of the most difficult situations i had to photograph in, the president walking into a room full of 300 family members waiting to find out about their loved ones who were missing and again, the hope

was lost every second, no one found alive i know survivors, children walking around with handwritten signs that my father my mother, it was sad. the president spent three hours hugging and crying with every single one of them. it was very powerful. >> a be interested to know if you'd like to talk about it at all, how you yourself dealt with the experience of all that emotion and pain . >> it was tough i was hiding my tears got to be honest. it was such a sad situation. i was confronted by a few family members who didn't know why i was there with the camera which was really hard to do and i remember just taking about 10 frames and when i hit that frame there, i knew i had something and i walked out and gave him some privacy because it was so intense.

>> have you had similar experiences? very emotional moments ? maybe with some family members that were there? >> killed in israel over the weekend and president clinton, took half a day going down and he was on their lawn and i saw one of the guys come up and tell him what happened and the look on his face i didn't know what it was but he was sad as he could be, going from a happy- go-lucky or golfer and then we go back into the oval and tell him what occurred and it was bad. he cried because we were so close to getting peace in the middle east, the stuff that's been going on disrupt did everything.

i can't imagine being a kid over there and hearing all the bombing in war every day of your life. and this was our best hope for getting to the next phase, to have peace. now were not going to have peace or we don't have peace now. so the people who make money off the war and the people who love peace want peace and were not getting what we want so it matters that somebody, we have issues about our priorities being all money and not about peace. i don't care how we get the piece, everyone has to give up something and sometime 20 to 60 years of war the real stuff is

happening to all of us, pictures tell the story. i love documentaries, i read everything i can about whatever the issue is any time i put my notes i try to understand what's going on with the business of economics, i know how to add and subtract. but i don't understand the policy of economics because that's the way i am. if you don't vote you don't have a nickel and a quarter

typically my routine, for people coming in and the nature of the meeting, i was walking out of the room and just as the door was closing, i heard him in the middle say, mr. president would you play with us. and he went over to give a shot to the meeting. >> this is a man from texas where the state legislature would not pass a hate bill. she been to see everyone in the state of texas and no one would deal with what she was saying or her family. then when he came she was there

to greet us. he hugged her and she cried and cried. it was one of the most emotional things i experience. this hearing him get redder and his eyes water. so what we do next, it's not working. we keep digging. we try to say will do better that we do with the photography to show you that it's that bad. you don't know it's that bad. cell phones with cameras on it,

otherwise, even more, that's what the picture means to me >>, the supreme court decision came down that morning and a guy named jeff had this concept a day or two before this and everyone ran with it and it was a beautiful night. >> we were out there, actually . >> okay. the military is trying to explain what happened. i will tell you, human beings are special you lose a special

one because of something you hope wouldn't happen but happens. all the explaining in the world does not take away the pain of what has been lost. i remember him before he got involved in politics and he's there one day and now is not coming back. it's a hard thing. some of the people on the plane from the commerce department. no explanation will take away the pain of what happened but this is serious, oh my god. this was deep. very difficult, so king of jordan and president clinton invited them to get together and work it out some more everybody sat down then, the

king of jordan and president clinton get up and leave them in the room by themselves. [ laughter ] and the security was having a fit is pushing them out the office like you go to, everybody left and we went out the door and clinton turned to the secret service and said nobody goes in, they don't come out that is where we left them for a while . >> that's great . >> i love this. i thought i died and had gone to heaven because the president of the united states went to a very sacred woven fabric done from the heart of folks that make this stuff. were at a rally and i'm on a big huge pedestal in front of them and i have other

photographers with me and i just happen to turn around and see the crowd still coming and i thought whoa, all you could see were clouds of dust because people were still coming. but, it was a magic moment in my time because never in my day would i ever have thought i did something like this, i'm from southeast dc. ohio state was the beginning of my world and ohio state got me ready for all this stuff because what you do on campus, you can do better in real life, if you learn the lessons of trying to teach you. i could probably say i learned those lessons . >> the 50th anniversary, it's great, it's a great speech, the energy, the foot soldiers, and

john louis, just the history of the moment, speechless. here on stage, i pray. >> we had a big ceremonial thing and then they go inside to start the dialogue and always the first lady from each country ends up talking and the guys talk to each other. each has their own interpreter. each one. so they are listening so you're not missing anything about what's being said. so i just said, whoa, look at this. . the delaney sisters. boy, sharp as a tack i hope i

get down and can still talk to. they did yoga every day and had a huge sure arlette in mount vernon new york and the book had come out and we had to go to new york for another event and then mrs. clinton wanted to go. [ laughter ] >> that was the first lady getting prepared for a speech and commencement address to the class so she's always prepared. . >> we had an assistant in our

office, pete was always with the president and amanda was the first lady's photographer but he like this to rotate as well so every third week i would cover the first lady. this is one of her trips to london and her big initiative was always girls and she had just given a speech and she's known as the hugger in chief and she hugs everybody. , this is the transition meeting to the president-elect, obama in this case meeting with bush for the first time after the election in november 2008 and i made this picture with the remote camera that i mounted on

a mantle of the fireplace and you can see the ivy creeping in , i was trying to hide the camera. and this is a bit more of a backup, i was standing on the other side of the coffee table and they only allow three in the room and he was looking at me like your done yet? luckily i had the camera as a backup so as i was walking out i made to frame of them talking as the door closed. it's great. >> that's cool. >> were in the mansion in the middle of the day and he's been told by a couple folks that some stuff is brewing overseas and it's like, can you imagine trying to watch 10 pots of soup

winning at the same time. that was what was going on and now we have a new pot to deal with in a's listening to try to decide on next steps., it takes a lot of strength as a person to understand all the destruction happening from place to place and you're trying to fix it from place to place and all the pieces have to come together with the right people to make it work. then, you have to pray that the people on the other side from another country get it, can we all pull this together in the same direction, the boat isn't going to go anywhere for not pulling together. so here we go, what will we do about the situation? day by day every day there are decisions because america is the police person for the world

because no one else will send people to do things to be helpful, even in natural disasters, we send out a bunch of folks have other countries don't, not having the resources or the how to to do it. so how you do it starts with him. and, i get it. so at some point you get tired of the clean frame. i was around the corner leaning in for a picture, because you wanted to be exciting photography cannot boring. >> it took me years to get this together, putting people in a situation together where they had the time to do it, sitting for me at a portrait at camp david, i really wanted to get the faces together because they

look so alike and again, for me for eight years to have that be part of the story, the history of the father being president, there's a very traditional relationship, his father would stop by and talk about baseball mostly, and it didn't seem like he gave me advice or anything but, i was able to capture this unique portrait around 2007. you should up with the light ? >> yes. we were joking around and making funny faces. >> this is president bush, the texan at the western white

house in crawford texas. the only place you can drive your own truck, 1600 acres to roam and what i like about the photo is it captures his personality, the little twinkle in his eye, the iconic cowboy hat because he's a texan at heart. texans are where he would be charged before going back to washington, but as you know, the presidency follows the president everywhere, all the people, the assets there's like a mini white house everywhere the president goes including the ranch when the president would go there. the timing of the photo, this is a month before 9/11, so every time i see the photo i see the sense of innocence before the world changed.

>> i think that is the last photo in the slideshow. clapped up . >> after q&a there will be people with microphones on the side or over here. expect hi everybody. this brings us to the q&a portion of the evening. if you have a question raise your hand. we are recording this so if you could ease speak clearly into the microphone. we have our first question right here . >> did you all have much of a life while you were working. second question, are these photos yours . >> we had no life, none of us. and the photos belong to american people. this is on the taxpayer's

dollar, this is on our history. i couldn't keep a dinner date for anything and if people invited me to do something, i could say maybe and not show up ever, but the good thing was when i couldn't show up for something i could go home again, i was showed up if something someone had months later, i hadn't forgotten, i would say i'm sorry i couldn't come but i'm here today and i can go home again. some staff could never go home again because they didn't stay in touch with their friends as they were from somewhere else and had made a new life for themselves in dc and i'm lucky, my life is in easy and my family is in dc and i got the best of all worlds and the best part was making new friends at the white house. the nest becks part was traveling around the country and calling college bunnies up, were coming to town, . >> my life was the president

schedule and what you learn is you eat when he eat and sleep when he sleeps and staff it's a grind, it's not like dog years, because a lot happens within one day and lucky for me, i'm married and i was still married at this time. [ laughter ] but my wife worked in the white house for three of the eight years so that help me a lot. >> i had a life. hot the levy listing -- lots of heavy lifting, every third week you knew you wouldn't work nights or weekends so every third week i would have time with my family, my kids recognized me. [ laughter ] .

>> this question . >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. two questions. is this the first time that the three of you have given this presentation in the second question are you going to take your presentation to other cities? these come to dc . >> this is the first time the three of us have sat on the panel together i'm happy to do it again. [ applause ] >> the next question is to the far left . >> i can't see . >> just a two-part question related to technology and photographs. sharon, can you talk a little more about what it was like to

transition from film to digital and what that did to your timeline? and your flow and process ann lawrence, or maybe to the three of you, are you ever concerned about wearable cameras, the perpetual presence of cameras taking future photographers jobs away from them in your role? >> you're only as good as the last shot you did. it's competitive and part of the deal about being a photographer is documenting stuff and do the best job. doing more about doing your job. if you start messing up, maybe not but it's okay. more cameras or better, honestly. at some point you can't have a camera for something or if i forget my camera, i'm dying.

i broke my camera before i came out here, my little fuji 30 i'm so sad about it. i see the pictures are so good and i haven't even brought my cell phone so monday morning i will be at the camera shop. the computer thing with the camera, used to work out of angeles air force base, lab that did our processing, they come three and four times a day in a truck with the metal case, very official military people come get our stuff in the principles are in the pictures and four or five hours later the proof sheets would come back. the communications people decided, if we get you some of these other kinds of cameras we can get the pictures sooner. we already got our hands full

but then we have a heavy camera that weighs more than two cameras and it's not a full frame camera so you can see every nuance of what you are shooting. it was frustrating, and it was more frustrating to have time to think. proof sheets that you think what you're looking but the computer screen you are like, what? i don't need these kinds of heart attacks. so, i had a hard time. by the time i left, we started switching over to where the first presidential library to put everything on disk. now the first load of discs that got did a year before we left, the coating wasn't good. , it didn't hang or stay. so i had to go out and find another company to do it again. i don't like doing stuff twice,

were running out of time because were getting ready to get out of office so i told the lab don't make anything that's not dealing with turn in a set from negative to this to go to the presidential library to the archives. but, now i'm a computer geek, i'm so reluctant. >> after sharon left office, i use the film process in the lab during my time the transition happened i directed the white house from film to digital. that was a huge job because of the value that happened that you all know. thousands of photos per day to design a workflow and a system to handle the digital files and unfortunately they had to

decommission the lab and bring a lot of those positions internal inside the white house. and also, using digital cameras was another change for me, a trade-off because i love using the camera all the stuff on 9/11 was a like a and in switching to the digital camera that was bulky, heavy and noisy, i really had to change my style of shooting because of the noise. unfortunately, the digital cameras are not quiet, when they first came out, in terms of the full frame camera that can and came out with and that's when i decided to make the switch. it was a struggle but something that had to be done in terms of keeping up with the technology and it was also where everything was headed and luckily i had the ask variance coming with from the associate press using digital photography

and applying my skills to turn the white house into digital. >> i will just say that you're talking about wearable tech knowledge he and how things are changing. technology has been changing forever you can put a camera in someone's hands on a photographer and you will get crap. if you put a camera in the hands of someone who is talented