J. Scott Applewhite

AP senior photographer J. Scott Applewhite received the White House News Photographers Association’s 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual “Eyes of History” awards gala in Washington on Saturday night.

“Scott is a big story, big picture photographer. You can count on him to think it through, weigh the options and be in the right place at the right time to capture the moment that stands the test of time in the history books,” said J. David Ake, AP assistant chief of bureau for photography in Washington. “He has made many such images in his career.”

Applewhite, the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, has covered six presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. He joined AP’s Washington bureau in 1981.

In an AP video, he described how he tries to peel back the curtain. AP senior photographer J. Scott Applewhite holds a letter from President George H.W. Bush as it is read aloud at the WHNPA's "Eyes of History" gala in Washington, June 10, 2017. (Kevin Wolf/Courtesy of WHNPA)

“I look for little moments of reality that will get revealed sometimes. It might be in between thoughts, it might be an off-the-cuff remark, it might be a slightly different angle, but little stolen moments. Some of my best pictures have a little larceny in them,” Applewhite said. “But that’s kind of what we look for. It’s the very core of what we’re supposed to do as photojournalists: show somebody what they can’t see on their own.”

President George W. Bush hosts President-elect Barack Obama, and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

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