Rangefinder Magazine
June 2005

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The Photographer Behind the Velvet Rope
A Different View of the White House

In the first decades of the 20th century, members of the Dadaist movement asked an exciting new question: What is “art” really? Although the discussion was sometimes tongue-in-cheek—an attitude captured perfectly by Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 “sculpture,” titled “Fountain”—it opened a rich vein of artistic exploration that continues to inspire artists today… artists like Chris Usher.

A sought-after photojournalist whose work appears regularly in major newsweeklies around the world, Usher is never content with photographing the obvious. Instead, he looks for images other photographers miss.

7/19/99, Washington, D.C.—A member of the White House Domestic Staff prepares a table on the South Lawn for an event in honor of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team.	10/13/99, Washington, D.C.—Marine One makes a landing near the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall at 17th Street, NW.

The results of his vision can now be seen in “Behind the Velvet Rope,” a show that debuted in the May Gallery in St. Louis, MO, on February 25. Usher’s show features behind-the-scenes photographs of White House and campaign staff, the local media and event staff, the Secret Service, the ever-present White House press corps and the constituents the presidency serves.

More Than the “Handshake Picture”
Usher’s quest for the non-obvious photograph didn’t start when he received his first White House press pass—fundamental to his career from the start.

4/13/99, Washington, D.C.—Organized chaos consumes the Rose Garden before a Presidential event.	9/23/00, Chicago, IL:—Constituents gather at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event featuring Al Gore.

Like a lot of photojournalists, Usher started out at a small, regional paper, and his assignments were predictable—local notables signing checks or shaking hands, sports events, groundbreaking ceremonies. But Usher was never content to shoot only what his editors asked him to shoot. “I was always looking around for something more interesting,” he says. “I would quickly get the picture my editor wanted, then spend the rest of the time looking around, imagining I was on an assignment for Newsweek or Time. I’d pull out all the stops and be as visually creative as I could.”

Usher’s next job was with the Orlando Sentinel. But he knew he wanted more. “Working at a bigger paper meant a bigger paycheck, but I had even less editorial control.”

He started supplementing his newspaper work with freelance magazine jobs. Then, in 1990, he quit the newspaper business and moved to Washington, D.C. “It was like jumping off a diving board into a pool without knowing for sure if it has any water in it,” he recalls. “Washington is full of photographers. For the first three months, I was living off my credit cards.”

7/6/99, Rapid City, SD—The who’s who of Rapid City queue up for a chance to meet the President on the tarmac at the airport.	10/13/99, New York, NY—A NYC policeman looks over his shoulder in anticipation of President Clinton's emergence from Marine One at the Wall Street Landing Zone.	4/25/01, Metairie, LA—President George W. Bush addresses a crowd about his plan for tax relief at Zephyr Field, just outside New Orleans.

After six years of doing mostly portraiture assignments, Usher got the opportunity he’d been waiting for: The Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, demand for Washington-based photographers skyrocketed, and Usher found himself doing freelance photojournalism full time.

By 1998, Usher had earned one of the most prestigious assignments in professional journalism: a spot in the White House press corps pool of magazine photographers. The work was often grueling.

Freelancing for Newsweek, Usher was assigned, in a one-month-on/one-month-off rotation, to be on call 24 hours a day. While on call, a photographer is responsible for anything the President does in public; the photographer must, therefore, travel with the President and his entourage continually.

Being a White House press corps photographer afforded Usher a front row seat to history. He was one of the 14 journalists chosen to accompany President Bush when he made his unannounced Thanksgiving trip to Iraq in 2003. It also allowed Usher to explore his personal interest in behind-the-scenes perspectives at the White House, which resulted in “Behind the Velvet Rope.”

5/6/99, Rhein Main AFB, Germany—A Secret Service agent crosses the tarmac in front of enlisted personnel waiting for a chance to shake the President’s hand.	5/12/99, Washington, D.C.—TV lights in the Rose Garden create the shadow of a PPD (Presidential Protection Division) agent in the colonnade. The President’s PPD agents stand sentinel within close proximity of the President 24 hours a day, seven days a week.	5/14/04, Mequon, WI—More secret service agents than usual surround the President at the Concordia University commencement ceremony.

“It takes this gigantic army of people to run the U.S. government,” he says. “It’s a huge machine, and most people have no idea it’s even there.” Usher became fascinated with it. “I started carrying two Leicas around my neck, along with all of my other gear—one M6 with a 35mm f/2 lens and an M3 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. My colleagues called them my ‘millstones.’”

Usher kept his Leica loaded with Kodak Professional Tri-X film. He loves the timeless look of black and white, and how the images are what he calls “completely content-oriented.” Usher explains, “For me, the ideal photograph is one that doesn’t really need a caption,” he says. “With a black-and-white photograph, you have no colors to distract and only content, light and composition to tell the story.”

By 2000, Usher felt he had enough images to do a show, but his schedule didn’t really permit him to pursue it. Then, early this year, he got a call from the May Gallery, offering him a show. The only catch—he had to have it ready in only three weeks.

Falling in Love All Over Again
He began to select images to include. “I always mark which photos I like the most on every roll,” he says. “But I still had over 400 contact sheets to choose from.”

Then Usher had to get the images printed. He called a local boarding school for which he’d photographed a coffee table book. He knew they had two Epson printers: a 7600 and a 9600. They agreed to print his images but only if he provided the paper.

5/15/99, Los Angeles, CA—President Clinton arrives in Los Angeles.	09/19/00, Sunnyvale, CA—A crowd of supporters silhouetted against the American flag at an Al Gore rally.

The paper Usher chose surprised the printer’s operator—it was Kodak Premium Rapid-Dry Photographic Lustre Paper 260g. “At first, the guy told me he would only put Epson paper in his printer. Apparently, he’d tried other brands in the past, and it hadn’t worked out. But I finally talked him into trying Kodak.”

Even after Usher persuaded him to try the paper, the operator refused to install any new ICC profiles. They had to use the Epson paper profiles that were already installed. If Usher had any worries about the results, they were soon put to rest. “The prints looked fabulous,” Usher said. “I was ecstatic.”

Usher was particularly pleased by the tonal quality. “The tones are wonderful. They are warm. They remind me of Kodabromide prints—that warm tone with ultra-chrome inks—a look I just love. They look like prints you’ve left in the developer for a long time, so you’ll get the blacks, but the whites aren’t blown out. So I’ve got the full gamut of grays, which is so important in black-and-white photography.”

9/26/00, Ann Arbor, MI—A Secret Service agent and his sweep dog share a moment of affection on the tarmac near Air Force 2 at the Willow Run Airport.

Usher had looked at some of his prints so many times he thought he was tired of them, but seeing them printed at 24x36 inches was a moving experience. “I fell in love with them all over again,” Usher recalls.
The May Gallery showing of “Behind the Velvet Rope” closed on March 25; Usher is in discussions with several other museums and exhibition galleries and will update his web site, www.chrisusher.com/, with information on new shows.

Galleries’ interest in the pictures, Usher notes, is due to more than their aesthetic impact. “We live in a three-dimensional, 360° world,” Usher says. “The photojournalist has to somehow capture that in a two-dimensional rectangle.

“When I succeed, I give people the opportunity to feel what it’s like to be there, behind that velvet rope.”