Friends of the Farm Fall Frenzy

Privileged Access Moments Book with Trudeau, Turner and Chretien Signed copy

 2000, photographs by Jean-Marc Carisse, and text by Mark SD. Bel

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of press photographers who take pictures of the Prime Minister of Canada on a continual basis. But those press gallery members are exactly that, the press. They are controlled and subject to access on the terms of the prime minister and his office. At any given time, that door closes and the access stops. But for Jean-Marc Carisse, once the door has closed, once the PM has moved behind the scene into the halls of power, the access continues. As the Official Photographer to the Prime Minister's Office, Carisse has unique access and freedom. Long after the journalists are gone - or long after the PM has left the journalists behind - Carisse is still there, and it is understood that his function is to document all that he sees. The result is Privileged Access.