Pete Souza, President Obama’s official White House photographer, took nearly 2 million photos during Obama’s eight years in office. Since January, he’s taken to mic-dropping those images on Instagram at timely moments during Trump’s first months in office, like the time he posted a picture of Barack and Michelle Obama lovingly holding hands right after Melania Trump appeared to swat President Trump’s hand away as he reached for hers, or when, two days after the travel ban was announced, he posted a photo of Obama talking with a young refugee. Some say it’s horribly disrespectful to Trump. Others say it’s pure genius.

In November, Souza released Obama: An Intimate Portrait, his book of photos on the administration which chronicles the former president’s eight years in power in personal, moving imagery. Here, he talks about his trolling, why he finally joined Instagram, and the stories behind a few of his popular photos.

BUY NOW Obama: An Intimate Portrait, LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY (Available at Amazon), $31

Official, Window, Building, Interior design, Employment, Furniture, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama works at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office on Oct. 14, 2016.

Why were you initially skeptical to join Instagram, and what finally convinced you to create an account?

I didn’t really know that much about it. [Around 2011 the White House Office of Digital Strategy] asked me to open an account. I opened [one,] but I didn’t actually use it. I just was following people.

I finally called my friend, Brad Mangin. Brad Mangin is a baseball photographer and he was one of the guys that I was following on Instagram. He was doing pictures away from the action — little detail shots or players in the dugout before the game. So I called him up and I said, “Look, the White House wants me to do this Instagram account. Tell me how you are doing it and if you think this would be a good idea.” And he was, like, over the moon, saying, “Oh my God, people would love it. You’ve got to do this.” So I credit him with convincing me that this was a viable thing for me to do.

Text, Font,
ABBY SILVERMAN | Getty

How did you decide to keep posting these photos of your work from the White House after Obama was out of office?

I think one of the first photographs that I posted on January 20, once I started my new private account, was [Obama] on the helicopter looking out the window at the White House. And I can’t remember what I wrote, but it was just something like, “Farewell.” And it got this immediate response that I was not expecting, because usually the president that’s on his way out is not the news of the day. That sort of made me think, “Oh, maybe I can continue to post what now are historical photos of President Obama and see what people think.”

You’ve gained a reputation for posting politically relevant photos when Trump makes a statement or announces a new policy. How did you decide to start posting what some people see as subtle digs?

There wasn’t any grand strategy. I think that people read into what I post differently depending on where you fall on the political spectrum. Photography is a subjective medium, and people look at photographs in different ways. And I think you see that when you read some of the comments that people write.

Text, Font, Line,
Getty | Abby Silverman

A lot of people have interpreted it as trolling President Trump.

I think what I post speaks for itself.

Wheelchair, Nursing home, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama talks with participants after a bill signing designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the lives of the four young girls who were killed in the Birmingham, Alabama, 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963, in the Oval Office on May 24, 2013.

You posted photos of the Obamas’ meeting with the parents of a fallen army sergeant after Trump falsely claimed that Obama and other presidents didn’t call military families. Do you see photography as a check against disinformation?

It could be. But what matters more than anything are facts. Facts matter.

When something happens in the news, do you know immediately what you’ll post on Instagram, or do you have to scroll through photos?

There are times where I’ll wake up in the morning and I’ll look at the date and I’ll just search that date from ’09 to ’16 and post a photo and just say, “Five years ago today” or something like that. And all it is is, like, a throwback. There are other days where something happens, and I just know exactly which photo I’m gonna post.

instagramView full post on Instagram

When was a time you knew immediately which photo to post?

When there was some reference to the North Korean leader as Rocket Man. I’m a big Elton John fan and I thought of Elton John as Rocket Man because it was his hit song back when I was in college or graduate school. So [I knew] I needed to find that photo.

How did you decide what photos made the book out of 1.9 million that you shot?

One, what was this presidency like? What’s the narrative of his eight years? Two, what was he like as a human being? And three, choose some of the aesthetic photos that may not tell you anything about him, but really set the scene for the presidency and are just really cool photos. It was always that balance. There [are] photos I have that probably are some of my favorites that didn’t get in the book, because they just didn’t really fit in with the flow. And there are some photos that people may not consider some of my best photos but they were, I think, crucial to telling the story of his administration.

Flag, Event, Crowd, Night, World, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
Departure ceremony at Accra airport in Ghana on July 11, 2009.

What’s an example of that?

There’s a two-page spread of him visiting a federal prison. He’s the first [sitting] president of the United States to visit a federal prison. Those photographs, they’re OK, but I thought it was important to include some of those. And there were several other things that happened that I just didn’t include. I’m sorry to say we had several mass shootings during his presidency and I just thought it would be too much to include all of those. I focused on Newtown, because to me that was his hardest day.

One of the first photos you took during Obama’s presidency shows Michelle Obama going into the Inaugural Ball. What was happening in the moment leading up to that photo?

So that’s in the freight elevator at the Washington Convention Center. There were, like, three or four different balls at that same convention center. We were going from one ball to another. We got on the freight elevator, and it was really cold. So that’s why he took his tuxedo jacket off and put it over her shoulders. The thing that I love about it is there’s this little private moment going on between the two of them, and then you’ve got, in the background, staff and Secret Service trying not to look.

Suit, White-collar worker, Event, Businessperson, Job, Formal wear, Management, Employment, Team, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama share a private moment as they ride a freight elevator on their way to the Biden Home State Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2009.

Another photo shows Obama meeting Prince George in his baby bathrobe, and that, as you know, went viral when it was released. Tell me about the backstory.

We were in the U.K., and the Obamas were going to dine with Prince William and his wife, Kate. We weren’t sure what the photography arrangements were until the night before. I got a call from our advance office, and they said Prince William wanted me to come in and be there to capture pictures of Prince George meeting the Obamas. Usually with the royals, you don’t have that kind of access, but they were very accommodating. Someone on the Windsor Castle staff was waiting to run me in the back way, so that I could get in the living room before the Obamas came in. And then that’s when I saw Prince George in his robe [chuckles] and was trying to get in a position where I thought they would have this little greet. If you look at the photo closely, you see there’s a table on the right that’s in the way. I had a very narrow path where I could get a shot where you could see that it was the president and Prince George. So it was not the ideal — it’s a candid photo, so you don’t know exactly where it’s gonna happen. It wasn’t perfectly aligned. Like, I would’ve liked to have been able to see Michelle better than you can, but that table was in the way, so I couldn’t really do anything about that. I was probably in there for, like, 20 minutes, and then the nanny came and got Prince George and took him off to bed.

Event, Businessperson, Suit, White-collar worker, Ceremony, Conversation, Formal wear, Employment, Gesture, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama meets Prince George in London on April 22, 2016.

When you released the picture of Angela Merkel with her hands out facing Obama on the bench, it went viral, and people joked that it looked like she was saying something like, “Come at me, bro.” What was she actually talking about?

This was at one of the big summits. All the leaders were gonna sit on that bench and have their picture made as what we’d call “the family photo.” And it just so happened that the president just went and sat down first and was just kind of, I think, taking in the view. I have no idea what Merkel was saying. But she came over and said something to him and I think sat down next to him and they chatted. They had a great relationship.

People in nature, Nature, Mountainous landforms, Mountain range, Leisure, Wilderness, Fun, Mountain, Vacation, Grass, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany prior to a "family" group photo with G7 Summit leaders in Germany on June 8, 2015.

And then one of the last ones we’re including is that photo of Obama and Ella Rhodes, the daughter of Obama’s foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes, dressed as an elephant for Halloween. Why was he on the floor in that photo?

I think Ella then wasn’t walking. I have this whole sequence where Ella’s starting to crawl. And then she sits down on the rug. And so the president sat down and tried to get Ella to crawl to him, which she did. And then the next thing I know, he’s lying down and hoisting her up in the air. It was pretty funny.

Sitting, Leg, Flooring, Floor, Furniture, pinterest
Pete Souza / The White House
President Barack Obama holds Ella Harper Rhodes, daughter of Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, in the Oval Office on Oct. 30, 2015.

Why do you think your account now resonates with so many people?

There’s a great affinity for our former president. People miss him. I think through my photographs, I’ve become sort of the link between him and his administration and them. I’m showing them scenes from the past that they wish were still here.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Image no longer available

This Is the Woman Behind Those Mesmerizing Lip Photos You See on Instagram

I Was a Struggling Immigrant Artist. Then Beyoncé Called.

How a Struggling Single Mom Turned Beauty Blogging into a Six-Figure Career

This 64-Year-Old Professor Has More Instagram Followers Than Most Millennials

I Was Bullied for Being “Too Black.” Now I’m a Model.

How Instagram Helped Heal Me From My Eating Disorder

There’s Someone Very Unexpected Behind One of Instagram's Sexiest Fitness Stars

Fashion Blogger Gabi Gregg: “It’s Political for a Fat Woman to Wear a Bikini or a Crop Top.”

How This Woman Went From Trailer Park to Instagram Queen

This Is What it Really Takes to Make it as an Influencer

This Is What it's Really Like to Be an Instagram Mom

This Badass Couple Makes a Living Swimming with Sharks and Taking Epic Underwater Photos

We Quit Our Jobs to Eat Around the World and Now Make Six Figures

How Violetta Komyshan Handles Insta Trolls and Life Dating Ansel Elgort

Headshot of Rebecca Nelson
Rebecca Nelson

Rebecca Nelson is a magazine writer in New York. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post magazine, GQ, and many other publications.