COMING APRIL 2021 from university of illinois press
now available for pre-order
...An original journey through political history, Photographic Presidents reveals the intertwined evolution of an American institution and a medium that continues to define it.
Throughout U.S. history, presidents have participated in photography as subjects, producers, and consumers of photographs. Yet surprisingly, no one has written a comprehensive history of the ways that presidents have engaged with photography. Photographic Presidents is the first study of how presidents shaped and participated in transformative moments in the history of the medium: the rise of the daguerreotype portrait after 1839, the dawn of the “halftone era” in the late nineteenth century, the emergence of so-called “candid camera” photography in the late 1920s, and the digital revolution of the early twenty-first century. From daguerreotypes to selfies, from the earliest photographs printed in newspapers to online slideshows, technological developments transformed our practices of photography and introduced new visual values to the medium. Stories of presidents’ participation in photography offer a compelling lens through which to study how these new visual values played out in public.
Looking for more of my commentary on presidents and photography? Check out these recent video clips from the Chatting The Pictures webcast:
Chatting the Pictures special episode with Pete Souza: Photographing presidential leadership in times of crisis
Chatting the Pictures of Trump at Mt. Rushmore
Chatting the Pictures of Kamala Harris's VP Nod
Chatting the Pictures of Trump's Naturalization Ceremony at the GOP Convention
Throughout U.S. history, presidents have participated in photography as subjects, producers, and consumers of photographs. Yet surprisingly, no one has written a comprehensive history of the ways that presidents have engaged with photography. Photographic Presidents is the first study of how presidents shaped and participated in transformative moments in the history of the medium: the rise of the daguerreotype portrait after 1839, the dawn of the “halftone era” in the late nineteenth century, the emergence of so-called “candid camera” photography in the late 1920s, and the digital revolution of the early twenty-first century. From daguerreotypes to selfies, from the earliest photographs printed in newspapers to online slideshows, technological developments transformed our practices of photography and introduced new visual values to the medium. Stories of presidents’ participation in photography offer a compelling lens through which to study how these new visual values played out in public.
Looking for more of my commentary on presidents and photography? Check out these recent video clips from the Chatting The Pictures webcast:
Chatting the Pictures special episode with Pete Souza: Photographing presidential leadership in times of crisis
Chatting the Pictures of Trump at Mt. Rushmore
Chatting the Pictures of Kamala Harris's VP Nod
Chatting the Pictures of Trump's Naturalization Ceremony at the GOP Convention