Ohio U photo prof going to White House

Pete Souza, an award-winning photographer who has been teaching photojournalism at Ohio University, was named Monday as the chief White House photographer for Barack Obama's incoming administration.

Souza first met Obama in January 2005 as he was about to be sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois.

Souza, 54, documented Obama's first year in office as part of a multi-part series for the Chicago Tribune that included stops in seven counties, including Kenya, South Africa and Russia. He later compiled the photos in a best-selling book called "The Rise of Barack Obama," following two photo books he had previously done on Reagan

After joining the Tribune in 1998, Souza left the paper's Washington Bureau in 2007 to do freelance photography and teach photojournalism at Ohio University.

It won't be Souza's first time in the Oval Office. He was also a White House photographer during President Ronald Reagan's second term.

In addition to his first stint at the White House, Souza was a photographer for the Chicago Sun-Times in the early 1980s. Souza has also shot stories as a freelancer for National Geographic and Life magazines. And after 9/11, he was among the first journalists to cover the war in Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul.

You can see some of his photography at http://www.petesouza.com/

Click on the headline to read the Chicago Tsribune story on the appointment.