White House Photowalk, Part III

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building

After the garden tour, we had the opportunity to meet with White House Photographer, Sonya Herbert. She gave us a quick overview of her life, how she made it to arguably one of the coolest jobs in the world, and she took questions from everyone. 

After that, we all went our seperate ways for about an hour. I used this time to retread the White House grounds and wade through the masses of people that had accumulated for the "official" Garden Tour. I listened to the band play a bit, went through the Kitchen Garden one more time (which was now completely blocked off, except for a small pathway to the front, for pictures) and made my way out to the street, to the corner of West Executive Avenue and State Plaza. 

I wandered around a bit, taking random pictures of flowers, monuments and buildings, pondered getting a bite to eat, walked back towards the White House. I figured I might as well not miss anything G+ related, so I made my way to the assigned security gate and waited. A few others had already gathered, we spoke about random things: Photography, life working at Google, photowalks around the world, etc. They wanted us to wait a few more minutes-- apperantly the gate that we were waiting at was where the presidential motorcade departed from and they were, in fact, preparing to leave. The President and Vice President had a game of golf to attend and were about to depart. 

This picture may or may not contain someone important:

I actually think there's a good chance someone important is in there. This was one of the last vehicles to exit and the first few vehicles had the front windows down and nice guys with assualt rifles occupying the shotgun seat. 

Anyway, after the Presidential Golf Outing Motorcade complete with Assult Rifles made it's way out, we were let in. After the usual security measures: X-Ray the bags, metal detectors, and an ID check, we were in. After a quick stop by the motorcade loading area, where the VPOTUS and POTUS just were and made our way into the EEOC.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building


This place was over-the-top. I mean, completely and utterly dripping with POMP. Capital letters, italicized POMP. It was a wonderful building, long hallways, spiraling staircases, giant skylights, shadows, lights, old building-smell and plenty of ground to cover. A nearly-perfect display of style and architecture.

The Indian Treaty Room was the multi-textured, outrageous, probably-should-have-been-more-modest-but-we're-Americans-so-screw-it cherry on top.

We spent a bit of time in there and speaking for myself, it wasn't enough. I had no idea where to start as the place is covered-- floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Why it's called the Indian Treaty Room is a bit of a mystery, although it was used to store documents in the 1930's... by the War Department.

Walking around and touring the building was great. Every corner we turned presented another architectural masterpiece and another not-enough-time to shoot shot. I lucked out on a few:

This one turned out nicely, although the perfectionist in me noticed the center point is a bit off. Also, most of the credit should go to the designer of the skylight... I'm just a guy with a camera (although it is nicely framed).

The stairs in this place were fantastic. Here's one looking up from the bottom level:

And one looking down from the top:

This one was literally "a bit of a stretch" but it worked. One of my favorite pictures I've ever taken (thank goodness for the rotating screen on my Canon).

Towards the end of the tour, we took a break and had some water. We then entered one of the meeting rooms and sat around a large table-- we were lucky enough to have Pete Souza, Head of White House Photography talk with us for over an hour about his job: Photographing the president.

Sooner than later: Part IV: Rappin' with Pete....

White House Photowalk, Part II

Bo, the First Dog

"The country at large takes a natural interest in the President's dogs and judges him by the taste and discrimination he show in his selection. Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House."  

                                       -- American Kennel Club Gazette, circa 1924

I was minding my own business, admiring the spot where the famous (or infamous) "Beer Summit" chairs in the Rose Garden stood, when a bit of a commotion occurred in the distance. Someone ran by me. A celebrity had been spotted. 

Unsure of what was happening, my eyes followed a line of people in the distance. On the other side of the South Lawn, a dog was walking around followed in tow by The Press. It was Bo, the famous White House Dog.

I knew someone from the Administration might make an appearance and I knew the President or his family wouldn't show up. In my perfect world, Joe Biden would make a surprise appearance-- He'd saunter down the stairs flashing his massive, perpetual campaign grin, say something hilarious, shake our hands and smack us on the backs. He'd schmooze for a minute or two, pepper the conversation with an F or a few A's then check his watch. He'd leave us with some sort of salt of the Earth quotable. He's from Scranton, PA and many of my fellow Pennsylvanians consider him the "3rd Senator from PA". Him and I would get along quite well.

So, it was a bit of a wild card, seeing the First Dog walking around. His trainer was with him and he was very well behaved and went between "Super Confident Dog Model" to "Where'd that guy go that's always with me, I don't like all these weird creatures making clicking sounds at me." 


To be perfectly descript, Bo is a good dog that lives in a super nice house. 

I waited patiently, took a "just in case I don't get a great photo"-photo (picture above) and made my way in front of the pooch, sat down, aimed my camera and started adjusting the exposure.

"Well, that's all, we're going in now," the trainer told the White House staffer.

And just like that, I had missed my chance by a few seconds. It wasn't a big deal, I had enough visual evidence to impress my 8-year old daughter, but I was hoping for a better shot. 


There are a number of nice Bo portraits from the Photowalk if you'd like to see more, check out the #whphotowalk or #Bothefirstdog streams on G+.




up next, part III: The Eisenhower Executive Office Building Tour...