What Would a Biden Presidency Look Like? Obama’s White House Photographer Picks Six Photos That Offer Clues

For years, Pete Souza, the outdated chief respectable White Dwelling photographer of President Barack Obama, stayed within the help of the camera. But in The Design I Search It, a brand recent documentary from filmmaker Shatter of day Porter, the lens is trained squarely on him. The movie, in remove theaters on Sept. 18 and premiering on MSNBC on Oct. 9, specializes in his work all the draw via the Obama administration moreover the years he spent photographing President Ronald Reagan. “What I turned into as soon as attempting to function turned into as soon as look for for these legit moments,” Souza tells TIME about his tenure in both administrations. “The fleeting moments that no longer handiest replicate what’s occurring in front of you, but that demonstrate what the president is relish as a human being.”

Recently, Souza has change into more outspoken, namely about his accept as true with feelings on President Trump, on his Instagram epic, where he has more than 2 million followers. There, he shares photos from his time within the White Dwelling, moderately deal of which could perhaps be accompanied by snarky captions that compare the latest president to the outdated one. The recognition of his epic resulted in the 2018 e-newsletter of his most trendy book Color: A Epic of Two Presidents. He goes even additional in The Design I Search It, revealing more of his inner most life onscreen. “This puts me in a more public footing, which is a miniature wretched for me,” Souza tells TIME. “But on the same time, I couldn’t no longer agree to function this movie. I feel so strongly relating to the institution of the presidency and the draw it’s being ripped to shreds by this guy.”

Souza hopes that viewers of the movie can procedure connections between both Reagan and Obama via their look in photos. “Whether or no longer you accept as true with their politics or policies, they’re decent human beings and so that they’re empathetic,” Souza says. “They know the presidency is about us and no longer about them.” At some level of the documentary, he discusses what it turned into as soon as relish to have such unfettered gain precise of entry to to Barack Obama and the draw he turned into as soon as in a position to showcase the outdated president’s humanity via photos. In seeing legit moments of a particular person exercising their ability for empathy, we are in a position to assign what model of chief they are, Souza says.

Given the time he spent within the Obama White Dwelling, Souza also had a high stage of gain precise of entry to to the latest Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, when he served as Vice President alongside Obama. TIME asked Souza to use photos he took of Biden all the draw via that point to tell about what he thinks voters can catch about Biden as a first-rate, and what a Biden presidency could perhaps look for relish.

Reaching out across the aisle

“Right here is Biden talking to a Republican senator. One of many issues about Joe Biden is that he knows all these legislators and has truly upright working relationships with most of them,” Souza says about this photo of Biden within the Cabinet Room. Due to those prior relationships, Biden turned into as soon as commonly tasked with meeting senators from the reverse gain collectively to tell about laws relish the Affordable Care Act, Souza remembers. “I mediate this picture exhibits that he’s in a position to use a look for at to work across the aisle.”

Disagreeing when the space demands it

This photo turned into as soon as taken after a Explain Room meeting on Libya in 2011. “I relish this picture attributable to Biden’s the final one to head away the room. Thus, he gets to have the final discover with the President,” Souza says. The interaction demonstrates to Souza that Biden wasn’t tremulous to argue if he disagreed with Obama’s level of stare. “Biden turned into as soon as continuously willing to stand up and affirm what he view turned into as soon as the right kind element to function.”

Looking out for out the opinions of a various crew

“To me, this illustrated that he listened to crew,” Souza says of this photo, which he took via the window, of Biden sitting with then-Native land Security and Counterterrorism Advisor Lisa Monaco. Though Monaco worked for Obama and no longer Biden, Souza believes this snapshot exhibits that he valued her opinion and turned into as soon as indicative of how he sought out other components of stare. “Additionally to him, the gender of the crew, of the actual person, doesn’t topic,” Souza provides. “I mediate that in a Biden administration you’ll watch moderately deal of females and of us of color.”

Prioritizing compassion

After the Pulse night time membership mass taking pictures in Florida, both Obama and Biden met with the households of victims in Orlando. This recount 2d turned into as soon as recurring for Souza attributable to he didn’t conceal Biden’s solo events—David Lienemann, who turned into as soon as on Souza’s crew, would function so—so it’s one in every of the few images he has taken of Biden consoling households. “Right here is what we’re talking about when want somebody who’s compassionate,” Souza says. “Anyone who will console households after a tragedy.” Biden has suffered various inner most tragedies, including the deaths of his first wife Neilia and their daughter Naomi in 1972, moreover the death of his son Beau in 2015.

Bringing a project of humor to a extreme job

“I will be able to’t endure in mind who stated something droll, if it turned into as soon as President Obama or if it turned into as soon as Biden,” Souza says about this image from a marketing campaign tournament in Fresh Hampshire. It turned into as soon as uncommon for the pair to function a majority of these events collectively, Souza remembers, but this time Biden turned into as soon as going to introduce Obama. He chose the photo attributable to it captures their relationship as chums. While reflecting on the 2d, Souza provides that Biden “correct has a upright sense of humor.”

Fascinating with passion and intensity

Love the first photo Souza chose, this one turned into as soon as taken after a meeting Obama and Biden had with a team of senators. Souza explains that he couldn’t assume between the two and in a roundabout draw determined to encompass both attributable to they demonstrate two varied aspects of the now-candidate. This one, he says, exhibits how provocative Biden could well gain. “His stage of intensity could well ratchet up in these model of meetings with congressmen and senators,” Souza says.

As November’s presidential election draws nearer, Souza says it’s crucial for voters to head attempting for for photos of both candidates interacting with other of us. And more than that, to ask questions about these leaders. “Is this particular person competent?” he asks. “Construct I belief this particular person to function the right kind element?”

Write to Annabel Gutterman at annabel.gutterman@time.com.