Back in the White House After All These Years: Pete Souza

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President Barack Obama plays with family dog "Bo" on the South Lawn at the White House, 4/20/09.

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President Barack Obama cheers on a young child as she rolls her egg toward the finish line on Monday, 4/13/09, during the White House Easter Egg Roll.

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President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak together sitting at a picnic table on the South Lawn of the White House, 4/9/09.

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President Barack Obama, holding a football, offers a fist-bump to senior staff member Pete Rouse during a meeting with senior advisors in the Oval Office, 4/8/09.

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Once in Baghdad, the President was greeted to a rousing ovation from the troops and there was this one soldier who gave him a fist bump as he worked the ropeline. The red light on the President's face is actually from one of those digital point and shoots.

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President Barack Obama meets with General Raymond T. Odierno, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the President's visit with U.S. troops at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq, on 4/7/09.

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President Barack Obama is greeted by a large crowd following his Prague speech, 4/5/09, in Hradcany Square in Prague, Czech Republic.

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President Barack Obama is seen through an oval window as he meets with senior staff members Robert Gibbs, left, and David Axelrod following a press conference at the G-20 Summit at the ExCel Centre in London.

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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are welcomed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Buckingham Palace in London, 4/1/09.

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White House staff members listen for the conclusion of a meeting at Winfield House in London, 4/1/09.

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President Barack Obama walks to a podium in the Cross Hall, Grand Foyer of the White House before making a statement regarding the American auto industry, 3/30/09.

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Waiting for an event to start in the East Room, the President pauses to look out a window in the Green Room.

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President Barack Obama rests his foot on a football during the Domestic Policy Council Meeting in the Oval Office, 3/25/09.

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President Barack Obama talks with NEC Director Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner following a meeting in the Oval Office, 3/23/09.

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President Barack Obama hugs First Lady Michelle Obama in the Red Room while Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett smiles prior to the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) reception, 3/20/09.

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President Barack Obama practices his golf swing at an outdoor hold prior to an event at the Miguel Contreras Learning Center, Los Angeles, Calif., 3/19/09.

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President Barack Obama signs books at the Costa Mesa Town Hall. OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., 3/18/09.

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The President uses the Roosevelt Room, across from the Oval Office, quite a bit for economic and budget meetings. I try to capture his expressions during these meetings, whether he is listening or talking.

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President Barack Obama examines the Resolute Desk on 3/3/09, while visiting with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg in the Oval Office. In a famous photograph, her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., peeked through the FDR panel, while his father, President Kennedy, worked.

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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia and Sasha Obama arrive at the White House South Lawn from Camp David, 3/8/09.

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Another happenstance picture. I was walking back from an event with the President and he ran into the girls on the colonnade after they had gotten home from school.

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Dessert plates are prepared by Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrison in the State Dining Room, 3/4/09.

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I knew the girls had stayed home from school because of the snow, so I alerted the usher's office in the residence to let me know if they went out sledding. I just had a hunch that they might. I had some better pictures of just the girls from this, but we've decided to only release pictures of the girls when they are with one of their parents.

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President Barack Obama looks at a portrait of President James Madison while waiting in the Blue Room prior to his press conference in the East Room, 2/9/09.

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The President is applauded by House Democrats as he is introduced to speak at the House Democrats Issues Conference at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., 2/5/09.

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President Barack Obama calls senators from the Oval Office, 2/6/09. Phil Schiliro, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, is seated.

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President Barack Obama departs from Andrews Air Force Base for Newport News, Va., on his first trip aboard Air Force One, 2/5/09.

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There had been a "photo op" with the Governor of Vermont. The sofas had been moved to accommodate the many photographers. After the press left the Oval Office, the President decided to move the sofa back in place himself. The Governor didn't quite know what to do.

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Super Bowl Sunday in the White House family theater. The President had invited friends over to watch the game. When the 3D commercial was playing on TV, the President put on his glasses just like everyone else to have a look.

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President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, 1/30/09.

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President Obama welcomes Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) to the Oval Office, 1/30/09.

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President Barack Obama looks at daily correspondence in the Oval Office with his personal secretary Katie Johnson, 1/30/09.

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President Barack Obama during a budget meeting in the Roosevelt Room, 1/29/09.

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President Barack Obama reflects during a budget meeting in the Roosevelt Room, 1/29/09.

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On Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama listens to a question from a member of the House Republican caucus, 1/27/09.

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President Barack Obama is briefed before the swearing-in ceremony for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, 1/26/09.

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President Barack Obama talks alone with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office following Bipartisan meeting, 1/23/09.

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President Barack Obama surveys the Cabinet Room with family members while touring the White House on his first day in office, 1/21/09.

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Early in the morning of Jan. 21st, President Barack Obama rides the elevator to the Private Residence of the White House after attending 10 inaugural balls and a long day including being sworn in as President at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.

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President Barack Obama walks into the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday morning, Jan. 21, 2009, for his first full day in office. His Personal Aide, Reggie Love, stands nearby.

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We were headed to one of the Inaugural Balls. The freight elevator was quite chilly, so the President took off his tuxedo jacket and put it over his wife's shoulders. Then he leaned into her for a private moment in a quasi-private setting. The body language and averting eyes of the staff and Secret Service in the background is what makes this picture a complete storytelling picture. The chance to capture moments like these is why I took the job.

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President Barack Obama is photographed by daughter Malia while Sasha celebrates prior to White House departure for Inaugural Balls, 1/20/09.

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This was the day after the Inauguration; his first time as President in the Oval Office. He was just sitting at his desk and I was fortunate that a shaft of light happened to fall on his face.

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After one week, I had already taken many phone call pictures and I was looking around for something different. The way the aides' legs were crossed as they listened to the phone call caught my eye and that became more interesting than the President on the phone.

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I was hanging outside the Oval Office, and Mrs. Obama showed up with the girls. I followed them into the Oval; they found the President back in his private study. He hadn't yet hung his pictures and paintings on the wall.

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The first formal event at the White House. The Governors Ball. Earth, Wind and Fire was playing music. The President was singing along while dancing with his wife. This is the first time I realized that I could get away shooting a high ISO and still have a decent file. Shooting flash would have ruined the mood and the lighting. So I shot as slow as I could, 1/60th at f/1.4, and cranked the ISO up to 2000.

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To appreciate this photo, one needs to know about the famous Stanley Tretick photo of John Kennedy Jr. crawling out from underneath this desk when his father was President. Caroline Kennedy stopped into the Oval Office and she mentioned that her father had used the same desk. The President, remembering the Tretick photo, then tried to open the hatch door in the front and then in the back to see if there was a way to open the now-locked hatch.

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This was after the initial meeting of the dog and the Obama family. At one point, the President began running along a hallway in the East Wing, and the dog followed. It was at this meeting that the family decided they would keep the dog, but they wouldn't officially receive it for three-plus weeks, until after the Obamas returned from their Europe trip. So this was one secret I had to keep.

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I cover so many meetings that I'm always looking for something different to help with my framing. This meeting was in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex, and I tried to make an interesting composition looking through the empty chair at the end of the table during this meeting with a couple of Congressmen.

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Aboard Air Force One, headed to France. Again, just trying to do something different than a straightforward meeting picture. It just seemed more interesting to shoot from outside the conference room door.

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The Vice President was having a meeting in his office with the former leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, of the former Soviet Union. The President decided to stop by and say hi. They were joking about the coup that had been attempted against Gorbachev and Biden said something like, "you don't have to worry about me."

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This was a Sunday night, the day before the administration announced their automobile bailout plan. The President was making calls to affected Governors and Congressmen in Ohio and Michigan, and the automobile task force was monitoring the call on a speaker phone.

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Just trying to make an interesting picture from a routine guest signing in Prague by focusing on Mrs. Obama's hands.

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He was greeting U.S. embassy personnel in Prague and happened upon this baby. I asked him later if she had poked his eye, and he said just his nose.

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I was trying to capture the high drama of the situation aboard Air Force One as we flew towards Baghdad on the surprise trip. Gen. Jones, the NSC Advisor at left, and Joe Clancy, the head of the president's Secret Service detail at right, were on the phone to their respective colleagues in Baghdad as they worked out the final plans on the visit.

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The first "party" in the Oval Office. The President presented one of his senior advisors, Pete Rouse, with a birthday cake.

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The President and First Lady visited a school in Washington. It was interesting to see the hands around Mrs. Obama.

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One of the advantages of my job is the ability to go anywhere in a situation like this. This photo is one of the few times where I tried to compose the picture ahead of time and wait for him to walk into the frame. I had seen the security guys on top of the roof of the white building and could envision a scene like this. I knew where his helicopter was going to land and approximately where he would walk, so I tried to get myself into a position to make a picture like this.