What’s inside the camera bag of White House photographer Pete Souza
Photographer-in-chief.
![Chief White House Photographer Pete Souza uses this gear to photograph the president every day.](https://www.popphoto.com/uploads/2019/01/11/BONF3P66LFYLM5KIZTYLBNTCFI.jpg?auto=webp&width=785&height=719.58333333333)
Your Instagram will never be as cool as Pete Souza’s. He travels the world with the president—shooting candids of Angela Merkel (in virtual-reality goggles) and Steph Curry (cringing in board-game defeat as Obama cheers). His globe-trotting job is 24/7. For the ever-shifting circumstances, he has the ultimate stripped-down kit, shown above, to perform in every condition. Even if you’re not POTUS-worthy, you would do well to shoot with these.
Sam Kaplan
![Canon 135mm f/2.0 L (left) and 35mm f/1.4 L](https://www.popphoto.com/uploads/2019/01/11/FZQ34TYMERCDDRJ3SN7I6VIK4Q-1024x583.jpg?auto=webp&optimize=high&width=100)
Canon 135mm f/2.0 L (left) and 35mm f/1.4 L
Sam Kaplan
Sam Kaplan
This article was originally published in the July/August 2016 issue of Popular Science, under the title “Photog In Chief.”