![](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/5IHCKQRGGV25IVXW3VC5EI4L4A.jpg?quality=85&w=2560)
![](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/5IHCKQRGGV25IVXW3VC5EI4L4A.jpg?quality=85&w=2560)
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Your Instagram will never be as cool as Pete Souza’s. He travels the world with the president—shooting candids of Angela Merkel (in virtual-reality goggles) and Steph Curry (cringing in board-game defeat as Obama cheers). His globe-trotting job is 24/7. For the ever-shifting circumstances, he has the ultimate stripped-down kit, shown above, to perform in every condition. Even if you’re not POTUS-worthy, you would do well to shoot with these.
![Two Canon 5D Mark III's](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/BZMKAG6DSWH62ZZSWGVNIGLR44.jpg?strip=all&quality=85)
![Canon 135mm f/2.0 L and 35mm f/1.4 L](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/635LENJQ4VHAAFCSUFWIEIIO3U.jpg?strip=all&quality=85)
![Canon 24-70 F/2.8 L II](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/T7V5XKGUPB5LDKOYB3H256YP4Y.jpg?strip=all&quality=85)
![Fujifilm X100T](https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/18/FQHKTU6QG4ATMLEPDUOHJ3VQIE.jpg?strip=all&quality=85)
This article was originally published in the July/August 2016 issue of Popular Science, under the title “Photog In Chief.”