Behind the Cover: Diana Walker on Photographing Hillary Clinton
Behind the Cover: Diana Walker on Photographing Hillary Clinton
3 minute read
Clinton checks her PDA in sunglasses upon departure in a military plane from Malta, bound for Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIME
Diana Walker spent seven days in just as many countries with Hillary Clinton for this week’s cover story (available to subscribers here). But the cover image itself was taken in about five minutes, with just the light from a window, at Clinton’s desk at the State Department in Washington yesterday morning.
Sergei Yurchenko, the leader of a pro-Russian paramilitary force waves a Crimean flag on a lookout point over his hometown Bakhchysarai, on March 16, 2014.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
“She was at work at her desk, and I said, ‘Madame Secretary, look this way,’” says Walker, who has been photographing Clinton since January 1993. “She looked up at me, and then I said, ‘And now out the window.’ And bingo, that was the picture.”
Walker, who worked as TIME’s White House photographer for 20 years under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, says she prepared for her whirlwind week abroad with the Secretary of State in the same manner she did with former commanders in chief. “It’s not dissimilar,” she says. “You ride in the vans, jump out and run as fast you can to photograph her arriving. Then you line up and you’re herded into a room where the Secretary is meeting with whomever, and you make your pictures and then turn around and run out. And then you go to the next spot.”
In addition to standard press access during the trip, which began in Malta on Oct. 17 and ended in Uzbekistan on Oct. 23, Walker was also given time behind the scenes with Clinton, who she says doesn’t get enough credit for her “terrific” sense of humor—a characteristic she discovered while photographing the then-First Lady for TIME in 1997.
“I got in her limousine, and she was talking to her then chief of staff, laughing and having the best time,” Walker recalls. “That’s the image (below) we led with that year, in part, I think, because the editors were so impressed that it was another Hillary that they hadn’t seen. In public, she was much more straight-laced. In private, she could really kick back. I’m always eager to show that.”
People in Lenin Square attend a pro Russian rally after a day of voting on March 16, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine.Spencer Platt—Getty Images
That convivial atmosphere was around on this recent trip too, where Clinton often jokingly teased Walker for not keeping up. “Here I am lumbering along to catch up, while she has so much energy,” Walker says. “She wears me out! But it’s the most wonderful wearing out. She’s totally focused. But even with that laser focus, she has time to be funny and charming.”
Diana Walker was TIME’s White House photographer for 20 years, where she captured intimate moments with five presidents. You can see more work in her book The Bigger Picture: Thirty Years of Portraits and in our coverage of Steve Jobs.
Feifei Sun is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @Feifei_Sun or on Facebook.
MORE: Read TIME managing editor Rick Stengel’s exclusive Q + A with Hillary Clinton.
Clinton checks her PDA in sunglasses upon departure in a military plane from Malta, bound for Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton flanked by U.S. ambassador to Libya, Gene Kretz, (left) walk from the plane upon her arrival in Tripoli, Libya, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton greets National Transitional Council officials at the steps of the plane upon her arrival in Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEArmed security drives alongside Clinton’s motorcade in Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEGuards outside of the Libyan Prime Minister's office in Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEA crowd swarms to meet Clinton as she visits wounded fighters at a hospital during her visit to Tripoli, on October 18, 2011. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton visits a wounded fighter at a Tripoli hospital during her visit to Libya, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEU.S. Ambassador to Libya, Gene Kretz, introduces Clinton before a speech to the staff and families at the recently-opened U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton poses for photos as she bids farewell to Libyan fighters upon her departure from a one day visit to Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEThe motorcade carrying Clinton and her staff heads toward the airport at sunset after a brief visit to Oman, on October 19, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEPakistani children welcome Clinton upon her arrival in Islamabad on, October 20, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton meets with Salahuddin Rabbani at a roundtable for leaders of civil society at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on, October 20, 2011.
Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton is greeted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai before a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on, October 20, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton arrives at a joint press conference with Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on, October 20, 2011. In her speech she pushed for closer cooperation with neighboring Pakistan on both the war and economic development. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton speaks at a joint press conference with Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on, October 20, 2011. She stressed the U.S. commitment to the Afghan peace process to end the war. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton leaving Afghanistan after talks with Karzai on October 20, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton awaits the arrival of Pakistani Prime Minister Youssaf Gilani for their meeting in Islamabad, flanked by (from left to right) U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey and CIA Director, David Petraeus, U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Marc Grossman and U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter and many Pakistani officials, on October 20, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton meets with Pakistan Parliamentarians at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, on October 21, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEThe staff of Clinton meeting between events at the foreign ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan on October 21, 2011. From left: Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff, (man behind Abedin unidentified) Cameron Phelps Munter, ambassador to Pakistan, Dan Schwerin, speechwriter, ambassador Marc Grossman, special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan (seated), Toria Nuland, spokesperson, Philippe Reines, senior advisor. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton speaks to US embassy personnel before her departure from Islamabad, on October 21, 2011. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton walks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon at the Palace of the Nation in Dushanbe followed by security, staff and media, on October 22, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton sits down for a lunch with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon at the Palace of the Nation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on October 22, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEDancers perform during a lunch for Clinton at the Palace of the Nation in Dushanbe, on October 22, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton poses with Tajik dancers during a lunch for her at the Palace of the Nation in Dushanbe, on October 22, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton holds an umbrella as she heads to her plane in Dushanbe, on October 22, 2011. Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton recording interviews for American Sunday morning television shows in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on October 23, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton checks out a General Motors 'Spark' while touring the GM plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on October 23, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEClinton departing Uzbekistan, on October 22, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIMEU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, October 26, 2011.Photograph by Diana Walker for TIME
