Daniel Torok is an American photographer and filmmaker. He is serving as the

chief official White House photographer The official White House photographer is a senior position appointed by the president of the United States to cover the president's official day-to-day duties. There have been twelve official White House photographers. Since the beginning of the ...

since 2025, during the second presidency of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Career

Prior to his career in media creation, in 2004, Torok served in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

. Torok was a filmmaker before he became a photographer. In 2012, he cast the music video for the song "

Same Love "Same Love" is a song by American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, released as the third single from their 2012 debut studio album, '' The Heist''. The track, featuring vocals by Seattle-based singer Mary Lambert, talks about the issue of ...

" by

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were an American Hip hop music, hip hop duo from Seattle, Seattle, Washington, formed in 2009 by rapper MacklemoreTrust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard (magazine), B ...

. The next year, he directed a documentary film titled ''The Otherside'' about the Seattle hip-hop scene. In 2025 he became the chief official White House photographer under

United States president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

. Trump's inaugural portrait was Torok's first time using studio lighting. Torok took inspiration for the inaugural portrait from Trump's 2023 mug shot and lit Trump from below to make use of

catch light Catch light or catchlight is a light source that causes a specular highlight in a subject's eye in an image; the term may also refer to the highlight itself. The catch light is either an artifact for a lighting method, or purposely engineered to ...

. Torok also took Trump's presidential portrait taken in June 2025.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torok, Daniel Living people 21st-century American photographers White House photographers Second Trump administration personnel