Joyce Naltchayan Boghosian’s photographs are used as illustrations in history books, while others may be found in the George Bush Presidential Library and the institution dedicated to the work of his son, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which will open in spring 2013. She is from a well-known family of photographers, with her brothers Haik and Neshan H. Naltchayan also working in the field. It was their father, Harry (Harout) Naltchayan, who initiated the siblings into the world of photography. He covered national news in Washington, including important episodes of the Civil Rights movement, Watergate and presidential events, though he also traveled occasionally to places like the Middle East.
Naltchayan lent his American-born daughter, Joyce a Leica, a high-end German camera often used by professionals, when she went on a field trip in fifth grade. Joyce Boghosian commented, “I remember my dad taking me to art galleries and saying, look at how the artist drew his pictures. This can inspire you and give you ideas.”
Boghosian continued taking pictures in high school, where she became the yearbook photographer and had an experience decisive for her future. She said, “What really inspired me to take this route was that during my senior year of high school, after the Challenger space shuttle disaster [in 1986] with Christa McAuliffe, President [Ronald] Reagan came to our school to address the students. As the yearbook photographer I was able to work next to photo journalists and the press corps and photographed President Reagan…It really gave me the bug.”
After high school she started working as an intern and freelance photographer with the Alexandria Gazette Packet and Fairfax Connection newspapers and began studying journalism at Northern Virginia Community College. She then got an internship at the White House for three months, during the very end of Reagan’s presidency in 1988, working for David Valdez, the photographer for the vice president.
Boghosian had just been accepted to start Marymount College in the winter of 1989, but was given a difficult choice to make. Valdez had become director of the White House Photo Office and personal photographer to the new president, George H. W. Bush, and asked Boghosian to stay on for the next four years as a photo staff assistant. She took night classes, but had scheduling conflicts when she had to travel on work to places like Oslo with Vice President Dan Quayle.
She said, “I couldn’t do both and chose my job. I don’t regret it. I think though that if I did go back to school I would study history, or, I would love to work in the National Archives.”
She got to photograph many historic moments, such as when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met with Bush.
When Clinton was elected as president, the staff of the White House Photo Office largely changed and Boghosian traveled in Europe for six months. Upon returning to the US, she began freelancing for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) wire service, covering news events in Washington. AFP was known for seeking unique perspectives in its photos. A year later, they hired her as a staff photographer, with the White House, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon as her beat. She worked for eight years, traveling to cover Clinton in places such as Ireland, Macedonia, Kosovo and Russia.
Among her favorite memories of working at AFP was traveling to King Hussein’s funeral in Jordan with President Clinton. Boghosian said, “I was probably the only woman photographer there. I think women were not permitted at the funeral so I had to try not to attract attention to my being a woman there. My handlers were aware but did not make a big deal about it.” She covered celebrities like Elton John and Stevie Wonder playing together at a dinner for Great Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair and photographed the historic moment when President Clinton denied having relations with Monica Lewinsky. However one of her favorite pictures from this period is a scene of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington in snow.
Boghosian quit AFP in February 2004 to spend more time with her children. She went back to work for the last two years of the Bush presidency as an official White House photographer — one of the three photographers covering the president. She worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., covering anything taking place in the Oval Office.
The Obama administration asked Boghosian to continue. Among other things, she did an official portrait of Michelle Obama, and she was once invited to lunch with her.
Boghosian has had the occasional encounter with Armenians while on the job. One important occasion was a delegation of Armenians coming to thank Reagan for America’s help during the earthquake. Valdez, knowing Boghosian was Armenian, asked her to photograph the event. Reagan was not available, thus President- elect George H. W. Bush took his place. Prior to the meeting Boghosian mentioned that it was Armenian Christmas and Bush asked her for an appropriate Armenian greeting. When Boghosian said, “Shnorhavor Dznunt,” he asked for something easier to say, and she substituted, “Parev”.
Boghosian’s dream is to prepare a book from her father’s photographs of Armenians around the world. He used to do a slide show with some of those photographs, and Boghosian has permission from the Washington Post to choose from 10,000 photographs.
Boghosian said she feels that she has grown more mature as a photographer, and this makes it easier to get shots in situations where time is critical. She said, “Now I feel that there is so much more time, whereas before a minute would seem too short.
She concluded, “I just want it to be known that I felt very fortunate to have witnessed the history I did from 1988 to the present. I started photographing these events of a movement for women, and also just for the younger generation. I feel fortunate to be invited into an event or the White House and document it.”
