Chief White House photographer Pete Souza has published, for the eighth and last time, his annual year in photographs. All the images were taken either by Souza or a White House photographer and each includes a quote that provides a backstory.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Jan. 5, 2016 — “With sunlight streaming through a window in the Green Room, President Obama listens to his introduction by Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed during the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Later, as he made remarks in the East Room, he began to cry as he recalled the day of the shootings; he called it the worst day of his Presidency.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Feb. 16, 2016 — “President Obama reacts as his putt falls just short during an impromptu hole of golf with staffers Joe Paulsen, left, and Marvin Nicholson after the U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Feb. 18, 2016 — “President Obama watches the First Lady dance with 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a reception celebrating African American History Month.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Feb. 18, 2016 — “I had my eye on this youngster while President Barack Obama spoke during a reception at the White House celebrating African American History Month. When the President started greeting audience members along the rope line, I bent down in front of the young man and captured this moment of the President touching his face before he too bent down to greet him. Afterwards, I tracked down his name — Clark Reynolds — and had the President sign a copy for him.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Feb. 24, 2016 — “The President receives an update in the Oval Office on the situation in Syria from Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. Pictured left to right: Jen Easterly, Senior Director for Counterterrorism; Lt. Gen. Terry Wolff (Ret.), Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL; National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice; McGurk; and Rob Malley, White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 16, 2016 — “It just happened spontaneously one afternoon as the President began dancing in the Outer Oval with Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri. As I recall, he was helping her practice for her upcoming wedding.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 18, 2016 — “I spend a lot of time every year in the Situation Room, which is not my favorite room to work in because it’s so difficult to move around. Here the President convenes a National Security Council meeting.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 20, 2016 — “‘I love that picture,’ the President said to me when he saw this one hanging on the walls of the West Wing. Truth be told, he says that about every picture that features Malia or Sasha. The President and Malia were sharing a laugh as Malia interpreted in Spanish for a restauranteur in Havana, Cuba.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 22, 2016 — “During an exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Team in Havana, Cuba, President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba spontaneously joined in ‘the wave’ that others in the crowd had started.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 23, 2016 — “Two renowned tango dancers-Mora Godoy and Jose Lugone-were the featured entertainers at a state dinner hosted by President Mauricio Macri and Juliana Awada of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The dancers then summoned the President and First Lady to join them for a dance.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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March 28, 2016 — “The First Lady watches as President Obama gives a hug to Caprina Harris before the annual Easter Egg Roll. Caprina had burst out in tears when she was told by her family that Obama would no longer be President; the resulting YouTube video went viral and President Obama responded to her on Facebook and said he wasn’t going anywhere. They finally had a chance to meet here.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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April 14, 2016 — “The President is always asking staff to bring their babies and young kids by for a visit. Here, during a break between meetings one afternoon, the President crawled around in the Oval Office with Communications Director Jen Psaki’s daughter Vivi.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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April 22, 2016 — “Originally it was unclear whether I would be permitted to photograph the President meeting Prince George. But the night before, our advance team called and said they had gotten word from Kensington Palace that they would allow me access to make candid photographs during their visit. Afterwards, this photograph garnered the most attention but at the time all I could think was how the table at right was hindering my ability to be at the optimum angle for this moment.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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May 13, 2016 — “A star at the South Portico entrance is featured as the President and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough walk along the South Lawn driveway.”
Official White House Photo By Chuck Kennedy
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June 4, 2016 — “The Vice President chases children and members of the press with a super soaker during the 2016 Biden Beach Boardwalk Bash held at the Naval Observatory Residence in Washington, D.C.”
Official White House Photo by David Lienemann
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June 21, 2016 — “For eight years, President Obama has visited wounded warriors on a regular basis at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Here he participates in an agility drill (top) and box jump with Navy Lt. Cmdr. John ‘Jae’ Terry.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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June 22, 2016 — “The great thing about children is you just don’t know what they will do in the presence of the President. So when David Axelrod stopped by the Oval Office with one of his sons’ family, Axe’s granddaughter, Maelin, crawled onto the Vice President’s seat while the President continued his conversation with the adults. Then at one point, Maelin glanced over just as the President was looking back at her.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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June 27, 2016 — “The beautiful light on the First Lady made this picture above the ordinary. She was participating in a roundtable discussion with Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Freida Pinto and students, in support of the Let Girls Learn initiative, at a high school in Unification Town, Liberia.”
Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon
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July 9, 2016 — “German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts when she thought they were somehow going to squeeze the entire press corps into a small hallway in Warsaw, Poland, to do a group photo with all of the European leaders. Instead, they were just being lined up in the order that they were supposed to walk into the room where the press was already prepositioned.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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July 25, 2016 — “Armanil Chisholm, 3, reacts as the President greets him in the Cross Hall of the White House. Armanil was with his grandmother, Tameca Brown, after the President had taken a group photo with wounded warriors and their families.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Aug. 4, 2016 — “With some staff watching in the background, President Obama blows out candles after the Vice President surprised him with some birthday cupcakes.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Aug. 5, 2016 — “When Stevie Wonder stopped by for a visit, the President described many of the items in the Oval Office including the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Aug. 24, 2016 — “President Obama watches a virtual reality film captured during his trip to Yosemite National Park earlier this summer as Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri continues working at her computer.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Aug. 26, 2016 — “While visiting service members receiving therapy at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Master Chief Petty Officer David Hall asked the President if he would join him and his family in a yoga therapy session at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence. Master Chief Petty Officer Hall of the SEAL, Naval Air Station Ocean, Va., was injured while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, where he suffered multiple Traumatic Brain Injuries. He has served in the Navy for 26 years and has deployed five times.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 1, 2011 — “President Obama pauses while talking with a writer from National Geographic during his visit to Midway Atoll.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 5, 2016 — “President Obama talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia following their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 7, 2016 — “The President sips from a coconut during his visit in Luang Prabang, Laos. This was just after it was chopped open, splattering pieces of coconut on his shirt.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 11, 2016 — “The President had gone for a hike with daughter Malia at Great Falls National Park, Va., and sat down on a rock overlooking the Potomac River.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 12, 2016 — “After a meeting with actor and human rights activist George Clooney, the President invited him and three of his colleagues to shoot hoops on the White House basketball court. This photo garnered a lot of attention when it was hung on the walls of the West Wing.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 14, 2016 — “The Obama family tours the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Sept. 24, 2016 — “The First Lady hugs former President George W. Bush as she and President Obama take the stage during the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.”
Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
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Oct. 3, 2016 — “The White House was hosting South by South Lawn, an event based on the infamous South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas. Just before lunch that day, the President was checking out the setup from a window in the Oval Office before the gates were opened. ‘Hey Pete,’ he said to me, ‘let’s go take a picture with the LEGO® men.’ And so we did.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Oct. 14, 2016 — “My favorite months in the Oval Office are late fall to early winter when occasionally the afternoon light will be at just the right angle to create some interesting backlight if the President is working at the Resolute Desk.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Oct. 14, 2016 — “There was almost no light remaining at the end of the day when the President and First Lady walked out to the South Lawn for a ‘Fourth Quarter’ toast to White House staff.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Oct. 21, 2016 — “Bill Murray stopped by the White House to be honored as the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. When the President opened the door to the Oval Office, he laughed that Bill was in full Chicago Cubs regalia just before the Cubs were to begin the World Series. After the presentation, Murray demonstrated his prowess in putting, ‘sinking’ several putts into a White House drinking glass, all while doing a public service announcement to sign up for the Affordable Care Act.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Oct. 31, 2016 — “The President was about to welcome local children for Halloween trick-or-treating when he ran into Superman Walker Earnest, son of Press Secretary Josh Earnest, in the Ground Floor Corridor of the White House. ‘Flex those muscles,’ he said to Walker.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 1, 2016 — “Backstage at almost every public event is what’s called a ‘signing table’, which contains memorabilia for the President to sign. After a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in Columbus, Ohio, I spotted an overhead position looking almost directly down at the table so ran up the stairs to capture an unusual angle.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 9, 2016 — “It was the morning after the election and the President wanted to speak to Press Secretary Josh Earnest about how to characterize his thoughts to the press. When he heard Josh was meeting with his team, the President sent word to bring the team with him, thinking it was just a few others. But it turned out that Josh had the entire communications, speechwriting and research team in his office and they all filtered in to the Oval, some for the first time.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 11, 2016 — “The excitement in his face says it all. Bill Mohr, 108 years old (not a typo), was the oldest living World War II veteran when he met President Obama after a Veterans Day breakfast at the White House. Bill passed away a couple of weeks ago and his family released a statement including this sentence: ‘Meeting a sitting President was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for our father, who was a true patriot.'”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 17, 2016 — “Following lunch at the U.S. Embassy, the President decided at the last minute to walk instead of motorcade back to his hotel in Berlin, Germany. I was trying to keep the Brandenburg Gate lined up in the background when he walked over to greet local police.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 22, 2016 — “Bruuuuuce! The President reaches out to shake hands with Bruce Springsteen in the Blue Room of the White House prior to the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony. I’m so happy for Bruce, having been a fan of his for almost 30 years during which I’ve seen at least 35 of his concerts.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Nov. 24, 2016 — “President Obama leads a prayer before hosting Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends on the State Floor of the White House.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Dec. 16, 2016 — “When I first posted this photograph and told the story about the prank in moving four snowmen so they were peeking into the Oval Office, some took this to mean that I had been the one to execute the prank. But it was not me, and as I previously wrote, the staff that pulled this off will remain nameless, unless Brian decides he wants to come forward with saying who helped him. Whoops.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
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Dec. 27, 2016 — “President Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan toss flowers at the wishing well after laying a wreath at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
