While President Obama’s former photographer is busy shading President Trump on his Instagram feed, a new official photographer has taken up residence at the White House. Shealah Craighead is in charge of documenting every moment of Trump’s presidency, from touching glowing orbs to meetings with staffers. And although it took him a little while to get used to her, now the president loves having her around.
“For the first month or so he’d say, ‘Why are you here?’ Or: ‘What are you doing?’ Or, ‘You have more golf photos of me than [anything else],’” Craighead told PBS in an interview. But now, he revels in having her there to constantly take his picture.
“One thing he likes is to bring people into the Oval Office,” she said. “He’ll give the history and the tour, and then make sure it’s documented for them. So he’ll call me up to take photos.” “He likes photos, that’s no secret,” she added. “I’m happy to engage in that.”
“Oftentimes I’ll show him photos,” she went on. “He likes to see them. He likes to see what I do.”
On the day the House of Representatives voted to repeal Obamacare, Craighead said the president wanted to make extra sure she was on the scene. “He said: ‘Where’s Shea, let’s get Shea, make way for Shea,’” she recalled.
He may be vain, but apparently Trump doesn’t actually force Craighead to carry around a stool to make him appear taller and thinner in photos. She debunked that rumor, saying she’s “used a stool for years.” “The president is six-foot, and I’m five-two,” she said. “I carry that in order to be at least at eye-level advantage.”