Growing up in Massachusetts, Pete Souza didn’t initially intend on getting into photography, much less capturing behind-the-scenes moments of not one but two United States presidents. Ideally, he wanted to be in the press box at Fenway Park.
“My hope was actually to become a sports writer,” Souza told Boston.com in a recent interview.
However, during his junior year at Boston University, where he was studying communications, the South Dartmouth native said he took a photography class and “immediately” realized that’s what he wanted to do.
Even though he said the class was “mostly basic stuff” and that he was a “slow learner” picking up the technical side of the craft, Souza found the whole process — from taking the initial photo to developing the film to entering the dark room and seeing the print “come to life right before your eyes” — to have a magical quality.