George Skadding with an impressive lighting-and-camera rig, 1948. (Photo by George Skadding/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

George Skadding with an impressive lighting-and-camera rig, 1948. (Photo by George Skadding/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

The White House kicked him off a tour with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 because one Skadding picture, taken for the Associated Press, made the President look haggard. Skadding said he hadn’t meant to trouble Roosevelt, who was at the time besieged with criticism that he was no longer physically able to run for another term. “It’s not my fault. I just shot the picture,” Skadding said. “Some idiot in LA picked it.” Both before the war and after, however, Skadding served as an officer of the White House News Photographers Association.

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

President Harry Truman walking arm-in-arm w. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he arrives at Blair House for his visit to discuss foreign affairs. (Photo by George Skadding/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

President Harry Truman walking arm-in-arm w. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he arrives at Blair House for his visit to discuss foreign affairs. (Photo by George Skadding/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

More Like This

Harvard students in lecture hall. (Photo by Arthur Griffin/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Arthur Griffin

People walking along the shore of Hydra, Greece. (Photo by James Burke/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

James Burke

Wide-angle photo of the floor at the Democratic convention with John F. Kennedy supporters.(Photo by Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Ralph Crane

Tarsiers,an animal native to Indonesia and Philippines, eating a lizard alive. (Photo by Sam Shere/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Sam Shere

Sisters playing music together. (Photo by Eric Schaal/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Eric Schaal

Leopard about to kill a terrified baboon. (Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

John Dominis