Masters of Photography - YOICHI OKAMOTO

YOICHI OKAMOTO was the first official U.S. presidential photographer, serving Lyndon B. Johnson. He was fondly known as "Oke", and was given unprecedented access to the Oval Office.

“A week after the assassination of President John Kennedy, the new President called me in and asked me to take some good portraits of him. I said, ‘Rather than just take portraits, I’d like to hang around and photograph history being made.’” Oke became Johnson’s official photographer, and even when history wasn’t happening his unique eye made photos well worth remembering.

He was a native of Yonkers, New York. Okamoto attended Colgate University and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He died at his own hand, hanging himself in his Florida home, at the age of 69.


Images for YOICHI OKAMOTO