In the eight years that Pete Souza spent shadowing President Obama at the White House, he’s shot more than two million photographs, bearing witness to a historic presidency. Together these images form, as Souza told TIME in a video interview, a “visual record for generations to come to get a sense of, not just what the presidency was like, but what he was like as a person.”

Revealed in these two million pictures is a President who pivots from his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief to the normalcy of daily life with his family.

Souza’s unprecedented archive might go unmatched in the next four years as President-Elect Donald Trump has yet to choose Souza’s successor.

With less than 24 hours left before Obama leaves office, TIME went through Souza’s entire archive of images to select the 122 that, we feel, defined his presidency.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.

You May Also Like
EDIT POST