Tom: Pete, then you became like Obama's shadow for the next eight years. What's the most physical demanding aspect being 24 7? What's your trick for maintaining focus?
Pete: Honestly, to stay healthy. It was challenging, so I tried to eat right, tried to get exercise, which was hard to do because I didn't have a lot of time. Try to get a few hours sleep every night. Just trying to remain healthy was the most important thing. And, you know, and trying to maintain that the, the physicality of that job, which, you know, you don't think, oh, well, you're just hanging around making photographs. yeah, but you're doing, it, you know, every day, all day. you know, some days till, you know, late at the night. Late at night, or you. Even after midnight sometimes. So, and, you know, and the travel was brutal. You know, we'd like I went to Australia with him twice. We ended up spending one night in Australia. So, you know, just crazy flights. You know, we, when we, I think we went to Afghanistan four times all the radar. Don't announce it ahead of time for security purposes. it's a 14 hour flight, so you fly overnight, 14 hours, you're, you're on the ground for maybe six hours, and then you get back on the plane, you fly home, you know, and so the, some, some brutal that it. You know, I think every foreign trip was if I were to get three or four hours a night sleep, I would be happy. Just, you know, really difficult. So that being the physical part of it was, was quite difficult. So eight years was to do it for eight years was, I remember my predecessor Eric Draper, who was president Bush's photographer, he also did it for eight years and before we passed a baton. I, I met with him in his office and I remember saying to him, Eric, I don't know how the hell you did it for eight years. I said, I'm doing it for four and then I'm done. You know, and then I ended up staying for eight myself.
Tom: I thought, Pete, you were going to say that the White House has excellent coffee!
Pete: Their coffee became better as time went on, let’s say that.
Tom: You feel Pete, that because you make pictures of pretty historical moments but you still have to find the right angle, the right moment, the right posture of the president. You feel this got easier over the years, not to be bewildered by the historical moment, but you could really focus on what you wanted to capture.
Pete: yeah, I mean, I think it helped it, I was a pretty seasoned guy, you know, so when I came in there, I'd had a lot of experiences, both with president, but also, know, I covered the war in Afghanistan, Kosovo. Had been in all kinds of different situations. And so I think I was, I think being a seasoned guy was, really helpful. I think I became, you know, a friend of mine describes photography is you've got this, you know three by two format box that you're looking through your view finder and what you include in each corners of that box is whether photograph is successful or not, compositionally. And so I became, you know really cognizant of you know, framing my pictures, trying to include when necessary some of the historical elements of the White House. the background of the foreground, and then being comfortable enough and knowing that I had full access to not just randomly, you know, click that shutter, but trying to click the shutter just the right time at the precise moment. And it's something that I think if you're doing it every day like I was, that, you know, I, I get to the point where I was in a very good rhythm, I think throughout, the eight years. it's Photography is harder now for me because not necessarily photographing every day. I, I find myself sometimes rusty in my compositions, you know, in my framing I'm There's something to be said for. You know, looking through that viewfinder every day and really focusing on the, how you fill the corners of that box, if you will.
Tom: Mm-hmm. As a seasoned photographer, because most of the interviews they always talk about the situation, room picture, her like mine, the Spider-Man picture, or, the running, what you just told , with Bo. But Pete, I want to take you one moment to one other picture, and even if you're seasoned, can we go a bit a moment to, Sandy Hook in Newtown, which I guess was a pretty difficult day for President Obama. I remember seeing the picture. I don't know if it's in the school or in a basement where he is rewriting his, speech. What went through your head that day, Pete?
Pete: that was probably the most difficult day to be a photographer. And you, you mentioned that picture. And what had, just, what he had just been through the, the two and a half hours before that picture was made is what was difficult for him and difficult for me. And that was meeting with all the families. You know, the, there were 26 families that had a loved one killed, and 20 of those were parents who've lost a first grade kid, you know? And to, for them, for those parents to be meeting the president of United States circumstances where their six or 7-year-old kid had just been shot the death, you know, two days before. I just can't imagine. And, you know, you, I mean, people were in shock. You could see it on their faces. here I am, you know, that's documenting these moments. And it was very, very difficult. Somebody, had an iPhone photo of me where up, I'm in the background on that day and I'm crying. I was crying. I mean, it was just it was just overwhelming. And, you know, and I've gotten to know some of the, some of those families and, it's it, you know, to them life is before and after.
Tom: Hmm. Yeah.
Pete: that's how they think of their life is the, the day before their 6-year-old kid was killed. And rest of the years after, you know, it's before and after for them. And so and look, I'm just taking photos. He's having to hug these people and learn about their kid and listen to their stories. Hugging each of them trying to say just the right words to them to put them at ease. And then to. Take all of that and pause for a moment in this empty classroom to try a, to try to gather his thoughts, also BI think he was adding some words to the remarks he was just about to make at the public event. There was a public memorial service. He wanted to add in some of the things that these parents had said to him, you that might help in what he was about, to say so. You know, I think that photograph you, that you mentioned, I think that stirs up all those me memories for me and pr probably for him. I mean, I'm, I'm just now he's just working on his volume two of his memoir. And he asked me to, you know, he's gonna include some photos And he asked me to do an edit for him, and that's one of the photos I sent him. I'm not sure it will be included, but I wanted him to consider it because I think it, you know, encapsulates what that day was like in so many ways.
Tom: You came home and gave a big hug to your own children, Pete.
Pete: Well, they were, they were out of the house so already, so they were gone. But you know, he I have a picture of him in my book of him hugging his daughter that day and he just would not, would not let her go. She had just gotten home from school and, yeah. you know, being a, being a parent that day and I'm sure that was happening all across the country. This is not something similar, but when. During the Reagan presidency, the challenge and disaster. You remember how Reagan reacted to this Yeah. That, so this is the space shuttle challenger that exploded in, what was it?
Tom: 86, I think. Yeah.
Pete: And, you know, just to set the stage a little bit, you know, those shuttle launches had become somewhat routine and this particular one had been delayed multiple times. And then that morning had been, it was supposed to go, it was supposed to launch earlier in the morning, and then there was some, like, it was too cold or something like that. So they wanted to wait a couple hours. And so he wasn't watching it live. He was
Tom: Okay. Mm-hmm.
Pete: in a meeting and somebody came running, running in and said I don't remember if they said the shuttle exploded or that there had been a problem on the launch. And his aide went, there was a little TV in the dining room, so the oval o there's the Oval office, and then there's a little hallway. And then he had kind of like a private dining room and they had a little black and white TV in there. So they went in to watch it on this little black and white tv. And I came in, I remember I was shooting with my Leica and a 28 millimeter lens. The things you remember, because, you know, in those days everything's analog. So the proof does not say what camera and what lens you were using like it does with a, you know, digital these days. But I remember that, I remember I had the, the 28 on the, like a M four PI think it was. And he stood there, he was watching it, and they finally showed the, the replay the explosion. I remember there's, you know, I was clicking the camera click and then he closed his eyes. For about five or 10 seconds, know, click. I made that picture. And then when we later looked at the proof sheet, it looked like when his eyes were closed that he was blinking. But I know what he was doing. He was, he was saying a prayer, know, I, I knew him well enough then to know. But that didn't translate in the photograph. So the, the picture that we did eventually make public, his eyes were open, was you know, part of him the live replay. But for me, the moment I'll always remember is that picture, that next picture where his eyes were closed, because that, to me, that there was like a tug of emotion when he closed his eyes like that.
Tom: Mm-hmm. And Nancy Reagan, you remember her? At this moment? She was not there.
Pete: No,
Tom: Okay.
Pete: which was not unusual. I mean, Lady was almost never in the West Wing, so there would have been no reason. Now there we, she did go with us to the memorial service at I believe it was in Houston, at NASA headquarters and was at the memorial service where she, kind of, like, when President Obama went to Newtown you know, he had to then, you know, meet with all the astronauts, families backstage. And Mrs. Reagan was very involved, obviously in that very heart scenes as well. The, I mean, the expectation. I think for those families is, you know, when you're an astronaut, there's always that chance that something's gonna go wrong. You don't think that about when you send your kid off to So,
Tom: No.
Pete: know, cer different,
Tom: different.
Pete: situations, but different circumstances. Both tragic in their own way. Pete, let's talk a bit a moment about your photographic eye. You saw President Obama sitting for like, say thousands of hours at Resolute Desk. Does he have any special or maybe fun habit when he, when he's sitting there, that you pick up as a photographer, I, you know, I don't know. I mean, he,
Tom: something that he always did that you knew he was going to do?
Pete: I mean, I think it would depend on the situation. Like for instance, if he was meeting with his staff or if he was seated alone at the desk working on a speech or some correspondence he would of the time take his off. You know, that would be the relaxed hymn. if it was more formal, you know, if there was a head of state coming in or. You know, just, or a group of visitors, it would, it would just be the opposite. He would never take his coat, he would put his coat back on, know, then you know, he would occasionally if like he was having a very informal meeting, maybe with a speech writer or, you know, he might put his feet up on the desk or he might sit on the edge of the desk. And so I think every circumstance was different. He had a, my wife gave him Petoskey stone, which is a fossilized, of like a fossilized rock, basically, from a certain area of Michigan and. He kept it on his desk. And oftentimes during like phone calls with heads of state, see him like twirling it in his, you know, in his hand as he was talking on the phone. So little things like that. But, you know, he, there are some things about him you could anticipate and some things you, you couldn't, I remember one Is not in the Oval Office, but we were, we were going to Rhode Island and I was on the second helicopter that was gonna land near the ocean. It was like the landing zone was near the ocean. And the second helicopter always lands before his helicopter. So our helicopter lands, his helicopter is about to land, and there's. motorcade is like right beside, you know, right near that first helicopter. And you know, you'd think I had hang out right there, but I walked down to the ocean and I remember secret service agent said, what are you doing down here? Like, we're gonna get right in the car. And I said, no, no, no. He's gonna walk down to the ocean. Like, it wasn't like he told me he was gonna do that. I just know, you know, he grew up on the ocean, right. setting, I knew he would walk down to the, just take a glance at the ocean and the sun setting. And that's what he did.
Tom: You see that is Marine One. I was going to ask you, because you traveled the world with President Obama. Pete, what's the most funniest thing you both did on board of Air Force One?
Pete: The funniest thing we both did on,
Tom: I know you played cards, but
Pete: I played cards. Funniest thing.
Tom: What's the funniest thing ever happened on Board of Air Force One,
Pete: Boy, he,
Tom: or maybe it's very controlled and no funny things happen there inside.
Pete: happen. I mean, the, I mean, I think the, probably the, I don't know if it was the funniest thing, but it certainly got the biggest laugh was you know, at some of these summit meetings big summit meetings the host country. You know, designs what each of the head stands, has heads of state are gonna wear. And it's not a suit, coat and tie. It's like some, you know, local attire. And I remember one of his aides had found a series of photographs of past presidents attending some of these summit meetings with these god awful, you know, outfits. And they were showing them to him. And they were like, they were so bizarre in so many ways. And I, I know I have a picture of him just like bursting out laughing, looking at these at these photos. I'm sure there's funnier things that happen. I just can't off the top of of them.
Tom: And if you guys played cards, he's very competitive. President Obama.
Pete: Yeah, as am I, so
Tom: Okay?
Pete: some fun times. Yeah. We played the game spades on Air Force One on our long overseas Pete, you might have had this question from any young photojournalism he comes to and say, I want to be maybe a White House chief photographer one day. What's one essential skill? That you would tell him or her that is absolutely mandatory to succeed in this? Well, I think mandatory is you've gotta sh you've gotta show that you're capable of photographing a politician behind the scenes. I often have, you know, young students come up to me and say that very thing, and then they show me their political photographs it's like the mayor at the podium, you know, or a picture of, you know, a higher official, maybe a governor or something giving a speech. Well, that's not enough, because you gotta show that you can go behind the scenes with a mayor at least, or a congressman or something before you're gonna, you know, if you're gonna photograph the president of the United States behind the scenes, you gotta show that you're capable of doing it on a, on a lower level. So that's what I always tell people to do. is find a local official. You a mayor or board of trustees or show that you are capable of making candid pictures behind the scenes. Because if you can't do that, then you have no business even
Tom: No.
Pete: you know, apply for a job as a White House photographer. Pete, January 20th, 2017, how did you feel? I felt mixed emotions. I felt I felt. Relieved that this, the, my job was coming to an end. You know, I was just worn out. I was worn out physically, I was worn out mentally. And there was, there was an excitement to you know, passing the baton if, you know, elite and just not having to do this job every day. But I was also very worried for the country, seriously worried because, you know, my suspicion is that the person we were turning the keys over to did not respect the office of the presidency in the way that I felt it should be respected. You know, I mean, more about himself than he, than he did. The average American. So it was those dual emotions were playing out throughout the day for sure. And then in the meantime, after this, Pete, you published some amazing books. Obama, an Intimate Portrait. I have it here somewhere. Number one on the New York Times List bestseller. But I have, here, I have this one of my favorites. You see Shade. So. This juxtaposition between the current administration and the two presents, you make pictures of I think it started on Twitter or Instagram first. How came that about Pete? The, this humorous side of Pete suddenly. Well, I mean, I think while I was putting the first book together, you know, to me that was gonna be a straight documentary. Look at his eight years, I mean, at least what I thought of his eight years. So that, you know, that book was produced in 2017. So I was working on that book throughout the year while at the same time I start, you know, I started doing my little shade on Instagram. I kept at that pretty much every day, or at least every week for a good year and a half. And I think that at, I think it was in, I can't even, like, I forget the year, but at some point a year or two later. I just called up my publisher and I said, I want to do, I want to do this other book, you know, and here's, here's how it's, it's gonna be based on my Instagram here's how it's gonna be formatted. Like, I had the whole book in my head, what I wanted to do. I mean, we embellished it a little bit in terms of with the design and stuff like that, I had a clear of what I wanted to do. I had no idea if anybody would buy the book. I know I, I knew I wanted to do it. And then I spent maybe, I don't know, two, three weeks with Yolanda Cuomo, a book designer. She had also done my other book. And you know, together, she and I really put the book together. And, you know, and we, we both brought ideas to the, the table in terms of you know, making it user friendly for the for, you know, the potential viewers. And I, like I had no, I thought it was, thought at times I was being very humorous, but I if, you know, if the audience would wouldn't get it some instances. Like there was, there was one there was one spread where we purposely the transcript of a Trump speech and like made it run off the page. like, it looked like it was a mistake. And the whole point, you know, was that it was just like, you know, we were trying to get the point across that it was word salad, meaning just garbage. so you couldn't read everything. 'cause we purposely, you know, ran it off the page. And most people got it. Most people got that. But I I got several emails from people saying that their book was misprinted and they wanted, they wanted another copy. And I had to explain. Explain to him, actually I did that on purpose. Oh dear.
Tom: So your, just a question, Pete, your wife knew you was such a humorist inside
Pete: I think she, I think she did. I think I, when I was on the Daily Show with Trevor and Noah, I think I made a comment that she wasn't, but I think she always knew.
Tom: then. Before we started the interview, I told you already that I was waiting today for your new comment on the picture of today, , what is your take on this picture? What happened today? I think it's a, it's a pretty good candid moment.
Pete: Yeah. So what, of course there was an incident in the Oval Office with the current president Someone passed out or started to faint as this little. Photo op, you know event was taking place in the Oval Office. And the photographer from Getty Images this remarkable photograph where all the other people are attending to this poor guy that had fainted. And the president is just kind of standing there, looking at the cameras, totally oblivious to what's taking place right behind him. It's, it is a remarkable photograph.
Tom: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Pete: and
Tom: And which is the one you posted today?
Pete: I posted a photograph of President Obama from 2013 when he faced a similar situation where a woman, a pregnant woman, it turns out behind him. At an event in the Rose Garden and started to faint. And he turned around and held onto her, you know, so she wouldn't fall down. I couldn't find that picture. It's probably in the archive somewhere, but, you know, I don't have access to every picture. I did find after the event he went to find her, you know, and she was in a room outside the Oval Office. so it's a picture of her, a picture of him checking on her, you know, after the event. and so I didn't even like refer to what happened yesterday. I mean, my. Viewers are mostly sophisticated they pay attention to the news, which is, you know, basically the way I originally did my shade in 2017 I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily say what had just happened. I would just post something that would be like the exact opposite or And so my, I haven't looked at comments today, but my guess is most people why I posted that today. You know, 'cause they keep up with what's going on, on the news and on social media. So I'll have to, it's, it's always a risk because sometimes people do not know what I'm like, why did you post this photograph? And I usually don't explain it because sometimes I do. But usually it, it's, it's unnecessary.
Tom: Mm-hmm. And you know what's also funny, Pete, that maybe people in the United States, they actually are aware of what was going on. But here in Europe, if I open my Instagram feed, your picture pops up and I first read yours, and then I say, something happened, something. And then I go to check what happened. So it's the other way around. Yeah.
Pete: this does happen and people, I know sometimes I'll see comments in my Instagram post where people say that exact same thing. go, I had no idea what this was about, so I Googled it and now I'm laughing, or, you know, something like that. I,
Tom: Pete, when you were a, when you were a little boy, what was the career you secretly dreamed of? You wanted to be an astronaut.
Pete: no, no, no. I wanted to be. The second baseman for the Boston Red Sox.
Tom: Okay.
Pete: But then I learned that I was not that good of an athlete.
Tom: That good? Okay. There are in the White House, Pete, some secret passageways or shortcuts you can take or you cannot discuss this.
Pete: I don't know if they're secret. I mean, there's, there's, there's you know, the secret things I can't discuss, but there, there's, there's definitely than one way to get somewhere. You know, if you wanted to go to the East Wing, yeah, there's probably only one way, but you could go outside and then go in through the back door. You know, there's different ways. But I'm not gonna discuss
Tom: No.
Pete: secret ways.
Tom: Pete, how? Just how are your cooking skills? Who cooks at home?
Pete: I cook and
Tom: You
Pete: my, yeah. I'm, I'm the chef.
Tom: okay?
Pete: maybe three things.
Tom: I was going to ask, what is your specialty dish? But we are quick done then.
Pete: Yeah. I'm, I'm not, I'm not a very I'm, I'm a basic chef, you know, like I can cook, fish two different ways, and I can cook chicken maybe three different ways.
Tom: Okay.
Pete: about it. That's about it. So like, we'll, we'll go over to our daughter's house if we want a more sophisticated meal, you know? Yeah.
Tom: Mm-hmm. The last thing, Pete, because now you talk about fish. I think I saw a little, little interview with you and President Obama about the great national parks in the United States, and he mentioned something of a very funny moment in Alaska when a Salman was spawning. What happened there?
Pete: yeah. Matter of fact, that was one of the pictures I just sent him for his book too. So now let's see if I can remember the details of this. We'd gone to Bristol Bay he wanted to highlight these fisher women, know that, that fished for salmon. And he, and he picked up the, he picked up this one salmon and the salmon. It kind of did its thing on his shoes. the one, the one fisherwoman went, she likes you or He likes you. Sorry, he likes you. Which I thought was pretty funny. Kind of him reacting to this spray, you know, on his on his shoes.
Tom: And
Pete: So
Tom: he was, he was cool with that. I mean, he just cleaned his shoes or he got new shoes.
Pete: don't remember. I did take a closeup of the shoes afterwards though. I remember that. funny though,
Tom: You see, it's not on Air Force One, but you got a funny story in the end. Pete. There we go. Pete, on behalf of myself and everybody listening, I want to thank you very much for giving me your time today. I hope you enjoyed it, Pete, you I, at least I made you laugh sometimes.
Pete: Yeah. No thanks and I appreciate you having me on and to talk to somebody that lives in Spain.
Tom: You see, we talked about it before. You need to come back to Spain. It's too long ago.
Pete: I do. Yes, I do.
Tom: Then I hope to see to meet you. Maybe one time. I will follow you of course on Instagram and have now for now, a lovely evening. Give greetings to the family and enjoy your granddaughters.
Pete: Thank you.
Tom: Thank you, Pete, for coming on the show. I see you. Bye.
