Keep Hope Alive

Please note: Due to State Street closures on the previously announced showdate, this event has been moved from SAT, OCT 26 TO FRI, OCT 25.

press release: Working alongside President Barack Obama for eight years, photographer Pete Souza witnessed some of the most emotional and memorable moments of Obama’s Presidency, taking almost two million photographs. In a 75-minute presentation, Keep Hope Alive, at Capitol Theater on Friday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m., Souza will share stories and photos from his years as Chief Official White House Photographer.

More than 300 images comprise his coffee-table book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” which debuted as #1 on the New York Times bestseller’s list in 2017. As President Obama wrote in the foreward, “Over the course of eight year in the White House, I probably spent more time with Pete Souza than with anybody other than my family.” Souza was present not only for every meeting, but for the private and personal moments that, according to President Obama, captured “the mood, the atmosphere and the meaning of those moments.”

Souza’s latest book, “Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents,” was first published in 2018 and also debuted as #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. The softcover edition, updated with 60 new pages, will be available on October 22. Souza also published a young reader’s edition of his Obama photographs, “Dream Big Dreams,” which also debuted on the New York Times bestseller’s list.

In addition to the national political scene, Souza has covered stories around the world as a photojournalist for newspapers and magazines. After 9/11, he was among the first journalists to cover the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan, after crossing the Hindu Kush mountains by horseback in the snow. He was also an official photographer for President Reagan.

As a freelancer, Souza photographed two stories on assignment for National Geographic Magazine and three photo essays for Life Magazine. His photographs have also been published in many other magazines and newspapers around the world, including on the covers of Life, Fortune, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report.

He has won numerous photojournalism awards, including several times in the prestigious Pictures of the Year annual competition, the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism and the White House News Photographers Association’s yearly contest.