Making It Look Good
House Photography Department acting director
Tina Agee
If you look at the latest official portrait of all House Members, you can’t help but notice one in particular. Sitting toward the front of the image – with a boyish grin across his face – Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois props his chin on his right hand, his elbow resting on the back of his House floor chair.
Gutierrez's unique pose, unlike any of the Members arrayed around him, was just one of many quirks that went into the July shoot. Tina Agee can tell you about the rest. As the acting director of the House Photography Department, Agee had to wrangle more than 400 politicians that day.
It took days of preparation, more than 20 large strobe lights and umbrella reflectors and even a resolution of Congress to go out of session for the portrait. When everything was in place, there were only about five minutes to shoot. House Members, ever-vigilant of their public images, expected a frame-worthy shot of themselves in the best possible light. It was Agee’s first all-House photograph as department director.
The pressure was on.
Making Members look good is nothing new to Agee. The West Virginia native began her career at the House Photography Department – as a receptionist – the year Ronald Reagan began his second term. It wasn’t long before Agee picked up a camera.
This past November, she became the office’s acting director. She was named permanent director on August 1. Her department includes three other full-time and three part-time photographers along with a support staff of three.
Most of the work revolves around photographing Members posing with school groups and other constituents on the House steps with the Capitol Dome in the background. “That’s like the classic all-time shot,” Agee says with a laugh. Then there are the official Member shots. Agee and her staff often shoot these in Member offices cluttered with years’ worth of memorabilia, or, in the case of Rep. Don Young of Alaska, trophy animal heads. “Others have it very nice and neat,” Agee says. “I guess it’s just personality.”
The job also includes shooting hearings, press conferences, State of the Union speeches and, of course, Inaugurations. Agee recalls with typical modesty and understatement her experience shooting President Obama’s Inauguration. “It was exciting,” she says. “It was pretty cool.”
The bi-annual all-Members portrait has its share of intrigue too. Its traditions include a camera angle from the majority side and a lack of assigned seats. Some Members show up early and use name tags to stake their claims close to the camera.
For the most recent portrait, Agee only had time to fire off a few shots. Almost all of the Members sat upright with their hands in their laps. It wasn’t until the fourth and last shot that everything came together and Agee felt happy with the image. That’s when Rep. Gutierrez broke into his pose.
