Throwing 'Shade' with Obama photos

Award-winning photographer Pete Souza has documented newsworthy events throughout his career, from the Kosovo refugee crisis to the start of the war in Afghanistan. In 2009, after spending time shooting Barack Obama on the campaign trail, he took on the role of official White House photographer — and gained more access to a sitting president than likely any other photographer in history.

Although he accompanied Obama on trips around the world, often Souza's most memorable images were those snapped spontaneously — like this one in the hallways of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, when Obama fist-bumped custodian Lawrence Lipscomb. The images, when released to the media, helped to create a narrative about Obama as a president who is also a friend-of-the-people.

The @PeteSouza Instagram was opened January 20, 2017 — Trump's inauguration and Obama's last day in office. After posting two seemingly innocuous photos, Souza made his opinions known with a third picture. That image, posted January 22, shows the former president in the Oval Office, with red curtains in the backdrop, as here. The shot was a jab at Trump's dissatisfaction with White House decor.

"Shade" is not Souza's first book of images from his time with Obama. In 2008, before Obama's election, he published "The Rise of Barack Obama," which included images from his time as a senator and later on the campaign trail. In November 2017, "Obama: An Intimate Portrait" was released, featuring many images like these, which spotlighted the former president's ease with children.

Although this image was snapped by a Reuters photographer, Souza captured the same moment — a private moment between Merkel and Obama at the G7 summit meeting in Krün, Germany — with his own lens. A similar image is included in "Shade" as a means of conveying the differences in the relationship the two presidents have had with the German chancellor.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Souza said that some days it was hard to know how important the shots were that he was taking. Like this one, above, which occurred spontaneously but in retrospect, held quite a bit of meaning as an image of the importance of representation for young people.

Although Souza has risen to fame as a result of his award-winning photos and Instagram jabs, the photographer posts few selfies. Seen here on the other side of the lens, Souza's job as official White House photographer means he was present throughout the entirety of Obama's eight years in office. He claims to have only missed one day of work due to illness.