Pete Souza Photographs President Obama's First Official Portrait

by Jarrett Martineau | January 15, 2009 at 09:42 am
1347 views | 4 Recommendations | 4 comments

Newly appointed White House photographer Pete Souza has snapped the first official portrait of President Obama which was released on Thursday.

It is a strong image that captures both Obama's quiet intensity and focused gaze, a depth of kindness in his eyes, and a slightly upturned mouth that, while not quite a smile, manages to convey warmth and assuredness.

Photos

Obama Official Portrait

Obama Official Portrait

see larger image

uploaded by Jarrett Martineau

What's your take on the photo? Visit Change.gov to download a high-res version.

The first portrait of President Obama has officially been released. It’s the first portrait of a President taken by a digital camera. The EXIF data says that the picture was taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, probably one owned by the White House’s newly appointed photographer Pete Souza. The shot was taken on January 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm with no flash, using a 105mm lens stopped to f/10 at a 1/125 exposure, with an ISO of 100.

recommend This comment thread is now closed
1
Jon Azpiri

Interesting to see that he wore an American flag lapel pin, considering that he received so much criticism for not wearing one during his campaign.



0
Art_By_Alida

I think his tie clashes with the flag, though.

I don't think the photographer did a good job.

The tie would have looked better being solid blue and matching the flag. His tie makes the photo look too busy.

This photo looks like it was photoshopped..the flag isn't clear and what else is that behind Obama?

I don't like this photo, considering it's the official one.

Thumbs down for Sousa.

0
Rosie1959

That "other thing" behind Obama is the flag with the presential seal.

It's "artistic" to have "depth of field" which is why the flags are out of focus.

0
Milieunet

Great work by Pete Souza. Did you see the serie of emotional pictures made in election time?

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

What is NowPublic?

NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.

Find out more

Crowd Power

Art_By_Alida
First Flagged at 10:26 AM, Jan 15, 2009 by Art_By_Alida
These members have powered this story:

Related Stories

Recommendations (4)

Most recently recommended by:
 

closeSign in to NowPublic

is reporting from