- November 29, 2024
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‘I thought I could hide behind the camera but it affects you deeply.’
Wayne Grant
News Editor
After 38 years of what he calls a “never ending merry-go-round,” former White House photographer Larry Downing has retired to Ormond-by-the-Sea.
Traveling the world on Air Force One, he was a witness to history.
“I covered everything the presidents did,” he said. “The White House assignment is the crown jewel of photography.”
He was there for the triple-handshake between President Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat; and photographed President George W. Bush under the “Mission Accomplished” banner after the strike on Baghdad.
While his retirement home is in a scenic area, he won’t be seen combing the beach with a camera any time soon. He said he’s not going to even think about photography for a year, even though he always carries a small camera in his pocket “just in case.”
Downing worked for Reuters News Service since 1997 after stints with UPI and Newsweek. He was recently presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the White House News Photographers Association.
His recently spoke to the Casements Camera Club and advised the photographers to “keep it simple,” and not carry too much equipment.
He also said that the only thing that matters is the photo, and when you’re framing a shot, to consider the subject the most important subject in the world. He said the photographer controls everything in the rectangle: pleasing patterns, light, shadow, color and selective use of focusing and should anticipate the peak action.
He called his job a whirlwind, and trips overseas would mean days without sleep. They would have to travel to an event hours before the president to go through security and get ready.
“It’s a very fast-paced, high intensity job,” he said. “The only person who enjoyed it was the president.”
One drawback to his job was missing holidays with his wife. When covering President Barack Obama, he was in Hawaii from early December to January.
There was also an emotional toll, as he attended innumerable funerals at Arlington National Cemetery and 11 funerals of children after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, which had a daycare center.
He also remembers British soldiers using a bull dozer in Iraq to dig a giant grave and then push in hundreds of dead Iraqi soldiers. He said it was years later when he thought about the Iraqi mothers who didn’t know what happened to their sons.
“I thought I could hide behind the camera, but it affects you and affects you deeply,” he said. He will never attend another funeral at Arlington, and if he hears “Taps” he walks out of the room.
“My career changed me,” he said. “I was able to witness the world with my camera. People do cruel things. When you have a camera, you just report the truth.”
He said photographers should tell the story with compassion and honesty.
