Senior Photo Editor for TIME, Phil Bicker asked White House chief photographer Pete Souza to reflect on President Obama's first term. Mr. Souza put together a collection of 115 images that he and his staff took over the past 4 years, he chose pictures that he felt reflected the President as a, "man, husband and father."
The full article along with all 115 photographs can be found in the TIME LightBox section at Time.com.
“I tried to, in putting together this edit, not only to show some of the high points or low points of his presidency thus far, but pictures that help people understand what he’s like, not only as a President but as a human being,” Souza tells TIME. “And how he relates to other people, how he relates to his family.”
Below I've picked out some of my favorites from Pete's 115 pictures. Some of these I'm seeing for the first time so I don't think they've been released to the White House Photo Stream on Flickr.
President-elect Barack Obama walks to the podium for his Inauguration as the 44th President at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2009 - Pete Souza
“I was looking for things that I knew that if he ever became President you would never see again,” he says. “[Obama was] walking down a sidewalk in Moscow in 2005 and no one recognized him. I realized that if he ever became President, you would never, ever see a photograph like that. The odds of becoming President are obviously pretty slim, but I knew he had the potential. And you can’t say that about too many people.”
Souza continued to photograph Senator Obama, who quickly became presidential-candidate Obama and then Democratic-nominee Obama. With Obama’s 2008 election victory, Souza returned to the White House as chief official White House photographer and director of the White House Photography Office.
Malia Obama takes a picture of her father at the White House prior to his departure for the Inaugural balls on Jan. 20, 2009 - Pete Souza
President Obama reflects during an economics meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 29, 2009 - Pete Souza
The President and First Lady, along with friends and family, watch a 3-D commercial during the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, 2009 - Pete Souza
The President dances with his wife while singing along with the band Earth, Wind & Fire during the Governors Ball, his first formal function at the White House, on Feb. 22, 2009 - Pete Souza
The President throws a football to an aide before a meeting in the Oval Office, April 23, 2009. - Pete Souza
The President stretches during a senior advisors meeting in the Rose Garden, May 20, 2009. - Pete Souza
On vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, the President shared a moment with his young niece, Savita, Aug. 25, 2009. - Pete Souza
Pete Souza
President Barack Obama and his daughters, Sasha and Malia, play in the snowstorm at the White House, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. - Pete Souza
After dinner with his family on March 19, 2009, the President works the phone in the Oval Office to continue pressing Congressmen to vote for the health care reform bill. - Pete Souza
President Obama talks with his daughter Malia on the swing set outside the Oval Office, May 4, 2010. - Pete Souza
President Obama shares a moment with his daughter Sasha during a barbecue in celebration of his 49th birthday on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 8, 2010. - Pete Souza
Pete Souza
The day after the mid-term election, the President waits in the Blue Room of the White House before facing the press at a news conference in the East Room, Nov. 3, 2010. - Pete Souza
Late at night in the Treaty Room office in the White House residence, Nov. 23, 2010, the President talks on the phone with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea after North Korea had conducted an artillery attack against the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. - Pete Souza
President Obama joins in a water gun fight with daughter Sasha during her 10th birthday celebration at Camp David, Md., June 11, 2011. - Pete Souza
Pete Souza
The President and First Lady greet troops following remarks to mark the end of America’s war in Iraq, at Pope Army Airfield, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Dec. 14, 2011.- Pete Souza
Pete Souza
- Pete Souza
The President and First Lady look out at the city skyline and Lake Michigan after arriving at the Burnham Park landing zone in Chicago, Ill., June 15, 2012. - Pete Souza
President Obama hugs Stephanie Davies while visiting shooting victim Allie Young at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo., July 22, 2012. Davies helped keep Young alive after her friend was wounded at the movie theater in Aurora. The President traveled to Colorado to visit with patients and family members affected by the shootings. - Pete Souza
President Obama greets daughters Sasha and Malia at the Time Warner Cable Arena before delivering remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 6, 2012. - Pete Souza
I hope this diary gave you a bit of relief from the post debate blues. If it did, please share it with your friends. Rumor has it that Pete Souza will not be coming back for the President's second term, I hope he does, but in case he doesn't we can continue to enjoy his work for the next few months.
White House Photography Disclaimer:
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
I publish a diary every month showcasing the photographs taken that month by Pete Souza and his staff at the White House. Look for it at the end of each month.
Update: October 10, 2012
Acting upon the request from Time's PR department I have gleaned out some of the copy I quoted from Phil Bicker article to bring my post closer to what Time feels is "fair use."