A White House photographer talks about White House photographers: that’s our September speaker, Dennis Brack. He’s covered 10 presidential administrations and has known the inside scoop for 50 years. During his time as a news photographer, Dennis worked with, drank with, and laughed with many of the colorful characters that photograph the presidents and their families. Over the decades, he’s interviewed countless photographers to collect their stories. The result is his book, Presidential Picture Stories: Behind the Cameras at the White House. Having been awarded dozens of 5-star reviews, the book delivers a fast history of the news picture business and a collection of delightful stories about the characters behind the cameras. We’ll hear some of these stories and how the book came about.
Dennis Brack notes that though his clients have changed over the years, LIFE and Newsweek were among the most important. For TIME, he averaged a picture a week for 23 years. As the Washington photographer for Black Star, he’s a member of the White House ISP pool, which consists of the eight major photo agencies that travel with the President in Washington. A major story for Dennis Brack was the coverage of the first Gulf War. In one week, his photographs were on the covers of TIME,Newsweek, US News, Paris Match, and many other magazines throughout the world.
For 25 years, Dennis Brack was the secretary /treasurer of the US Senate Standing Committee of Press Photographers. This 6-member committee determines the photographic coverage of the House and Senate, the conventions, and the inauguration. He was also President of the White House News Photographers Association for many years. Recently, he was the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner and honored at the White House News Photographers Association Eyes of History Gala. Like many TIME Magazine photographers, Dennis Brack has given his photographic collection to The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas. The transparencies and negatives will be preserved to be a source for future historians. The Briscoe Center has sponsored a major exhibition of Dennis Brack’s photographs.
For a quick view of Dennis Brack’s work, visit www.dennisbrack.com