When Donald Trump made the unscripted move six years ago to cross the de-militarized zone into North Korea, Shealah Craighead had a decision to make.

The then-chief White House photographer abandoned her pre-set position and set off on a dead-run ahead of Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un into previously forbidden territory to capture history: the first U.S. president to enter the rogue nation.

“I had to make a split-second decision to say what would tell this story? And the story is how far he’s walking into North Korea,” Craighead said. “I already see my (North Korean) counterpart on the other side … so I ran across the border and got in line with him only to be jockeying for that position, and he was none too pleased with me being there.”

Craighead’s photographs from that late June 2019 encounter remain some of the most iconic images of the time, telling the story of a moment that words could not quite capture.

Craighead is a proud alum of a small cadre of official White House photographers, with the benefit of extraordinary access, who work as diarists of presidents and history. The photographer, joined by former White House colleague Joyce Boghosian, urged the National Press Foundation’s Paul Miller Washington Reporting fellows to recognize the potency of visual storytelling and how it can enhance reporting.

Boghosian, whose work spans at least four administrations, cited a photograph taken by her father and mentor, Washington Post photographer Harry Naltchayan, as an example of images that are seared into our collective memory. Fifty years after Naltchayan captured the elaborate breakfast celebration of life on the National Mall, the scene was recreated and published to tell the moving story of the 12 friends behind the dramatic 1974 photograph.

“Photos are very powerful,” Boghosian said. “Even 50 years later, it is making people weep.”

From Yearbook to a Career Behind the Camera

Boghosian and Craighead knew early on that they were destined to be visual storytellers.

For Boghosian, the moment arrived in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan visited her high school where she was the yearbook photographer.

“I was so excited … and I really caught the bug this day,” she said, adding that she announced her plan to her father that day. “I’m like, ‘Dad, I want to do this.’ So, I ended up getting an internship at the White House, thanks to my dad and to the (White House) photo office.”

Whatever the calling, Craighead urged reporters to recognize opportunities when they appear, especially when they are unexpected.

Days before Trump’s first inauguration, Craighead recounted a telephone call from a Trump official who asked if she could take on the assignment of photographing the event for the White House.

“I said, ‘Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like a plan.’ And he calls back on Monday and said, ‘Hey, the photographer that we had slotted to be the chief photographer did not pass vetting. So, at 12 noon, could you just assume the role?’ And I was like, the role of what? And he was the chief photographer. And I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll just assume the role at 12 noon. And that’s how that literally happened. It was not more of a conversation than that, because he’s like, ‘OK, great, somebody will be in touch; got to go’ click.’ ”

Access the full transcript here.