Al Anderson was a photo editor in the Obama White House and was asked at the last moment to stay on for the Trump administration transition.

News | 3.6.17

White House Photo Editor Stays On At Last Moment, But Leaves After Two Weeks

By Tom Burton

It was scheduled as his next-to-last day at the White House. Al Anderson, a photo editor for the Obama White House, and an archivist were the only ones left from a photo staff of about a dozen people.

It was Wednesday and the inauguration was Friday. Late that day, he was approached by Shealah Craighead and asked if he could stay on for awhile to cover until the photo department was restaffed. Craighead, a respected political photographer who had worked in the White House before, had been brought in to cover the inauguration. It would be another week before she would be officially named director of photography for the White House.

Anderson said he could stay on to help and they agreed to talk later about how long that might be. After two weeks, by mutual agreement, Anderson left.

“When I was asked to stay on, I had concerns,” Anderson said. “I decided I could stay on temporarily because it was a job for our system rather than for the president.”

Traditionally, the incoming administration brings along the official campaign photographer or chooses a photojournalist who covered the candidate closely to become director of photography at the White House. Trump did not have a campaign photographer. After the election, no one on the photo staff was approached by the transition team about staying on, Anderson said.

Craighead had a short timetable to organize inauguration coverage while also making photos herself.

“She was working incredibly long days which made it even more difficult to put together some kind of team,” Anderson said.

Anderson had worked in the White House since 2011 in the middle of President Obama’s first term. Anderson was there during the second Obama inauguration and with an established team in place, it was a smooth, choreographed event. He was one of three photo editors handling the news of the day and two more editors edited the hand-shake photos.

'It wasn’t that they are incompetent. They didn't take the time to build a team before Inauguration Day.'

Al Anderson

Photo Editor | White House

For the Trump inauguration, he was the only photo editor. Craighead photographed Trump and military photographers came in to cover Vice President Mike Pence and other coverage. It was a smaller staff that worked hard, but was stretched.

Anderson said it is expected that any administration change will have confusion, but that the Trump administration was pressed for time.

“It wasn’t that they are incompetent. They didn't take the time to build a team before Inauguration Day,” Anderson said.

Through the weekend following the inauguration, some things became apparent to Anderson.

“It didn't take very long — matter of two days, maybe — for me to know that I was very thankful it wasn’t a permanent job,” Anderson said.

Anderson has a journalism background, having been director of photography at The State in Columbia, South Carolina before joining the White House staff. Serving during the Obama administration and under Director of Photography Pete Souza, Anderson is proud to have worked with that photo team and to share the responsibility of documenting history.

“It was a incredible experience to work with the people I worked with,” Anderson said.

He also respected how the Obama administration reflected the dignity of the presidency, something he didn’t see as the Trump administration took over.

Anderson said many people felt that once Trump was in office, the candidate would become more presidential. That first weekend, Anderson began to believe that wouldn’t happen.

A key moment was President Trump’s Twitter posts that said the size of his inauguration crowds were underreported and Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s first press conference that repeated the complaint.

“You would think that the president of the United States would have much more important things to focus on,” Anderson said. “That strengthened my idea that this guy is not presidential.”

Trump’s unpredictable behavior would have been a challenge in the long run. While editing for the White House, Anderson said they often weren’t worried about what Obama, “the boss,” might think, but how something could be used by opposition groups to attack the administration.

For photos, that often meant considering how a good image could be taken out of context to undermine a serious message. The new White House is showing too many contradictory themes to be able to follow, much less to edit accordingly.

Anderson also had problems with Trump’s policies, making it harder to work in the White House. He was concerned that the new president’s values would be seen as his own and he didn’t want to be part of that.

“This man’s politics are not my politics,” Anderson said.

With his experience in journalism, Anderson is also concerned about the new administration’s efforts to delegitimize the press through “fake news” accusations.