Christy Bowe’s “eyes”: the photographer who has photographed Washington for 30 years reveals the details outside the plane

From the dark times of Bill Clinton to the lonely inauguration of Joe Biden, photojournalist Christy Bowe accumulates in three decades of career the portrait of five administrationswhich he has now enclosed in a book in which he recounts the details what is left out dish.

“Eyes that speak” (Eyes that speak) is the title of this compilation, a review of the most special photographs of his career, mainly focused on political coverage. A title that has to do, she says in an interview, with the fact that the eyes are “the window of the soul of every person”.

And that’s exactly what the journalist has tried to do throughout her career, go beyond what everyone portrays and show the humanity behind the faces photographed millions of times.

“I like to show the humanity of those who are portrayed and look for spontaneous moments, because most of the time I’m not the only photographer present and I need my images to stand out, be a little different”, explains the communicator. .

So when you are in a room like the Oval Office, try to look around and see “who else is in there, what else is going on, because often the best photos are what happened before or after what you came. here to see. “document” he says.

Two of his favorite photos are examples of this and they are inside the chapter dedicated to Barack Obamatwo “very natural and genuine moments”.

The first is from Michelle and Malia Obama, during the traditional Easter egg race party at the White House, and in it daughter fixes her mother’s bangs; the other is from Obama himself, in which he high-fives several children.

Even with Donald Trump, he raised the challenge of reflecting intimacy and achieved it in another of his favorite photos, when the then president welcomed the winners of the World Series, the Washington Nationals baseball team, and appears giving “a bear hug” to one of the playersKurt Suzuki.

For Bowe, that period was “very turbulent and complicated,” not only because of the complex relationship between the press and the Trump administration, but also because improvisation reigned. “With other presidents I’ve held during my career there was a great schedule and you knew in advance what was on during the week,” she explains.

Christy Bowe remembers the first time she walked through the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue gate, in October 1994, to hear President Clinton’s remarks after a man shot at the White House facade, one of the security incidents that the then President he lived in that time.

He is aware that he has witnessed some of the most significant political moments of recent decades, including Donald Trump’s impeachment trial or memorable meetings between presidents like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford or George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Clinton.

The photographer believes she has been a “close witness to the story” and sees it as a “blessing”, but she also feels “a lot of responsibility”, that of being able to show her own point of view on what is happening.

But undoubtedly the most dramatic moment of his career was January 6, 2021, the day of the assault on the Capitol, when suffered verbal and physical attacks This didn’t stop him from doing his job.

“Those were the most intense moments of my 30 years of coverage of the White House,” recalls Bowe, who won the award for his photos. “Paris State of the World Photographic Award”.

Although most of Bowe’s career is related to politics, he has not only photographed people related to this world.

People ranging from Princess Diana of Wales, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth of England or actress Angelina Jolie have gone through her lens, as the book and its cover itself attest.

With “Speaking Eyes” Bowe also tries to give visibility to women photojournalist and to serve as inspiration, since although today “there are more women in the sector than there were”, it is still far from equality, among other things because “it is a very physically demanding job”.

“I wanted that to be the purpose of writing this book as well, but most of all I wanted people to know that there is a lot more to an image than what people see,” he says.

ap