--- title: Obama White House Photographer Pete Souza Trolls Donald Trump description: See the photo that Pete Souza, Obama's White House photographer, shared to highlight the lack of women in President Trump's administration. canonical: https://time.com/4663783/donald-trump-trolled-former-obama-photographer-pete-souza/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-08T19:05:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:16:14.744Z og:title: Former White House Photographer Trolls Trump on Instagram og:description: Obama's official photographer shared a poignant photo on Instagram og:url: https://time.com/4663783/donald-trump-trolled-former-obama-photographer-pete-souza/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e08dc9a9adc6658/6988b94dbc6cfc07d83e0185/gettyimages-632248942-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4574 og:image:height: 2573 og:image:alt: 58th U.S. Presidential Inauguration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former White House Photographer Trolls Trump on Instagram twitter:description: Obama's official photographer shared a poignant photo on Instagram twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e08dc9a9adc6658/6988b94dbc6cfc07d83e0185/gettyimages-632248942-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former White House Photographer Trolls Trump on Instagram > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=80835154-0c64-4806-b3c0-3ebc3c872d87&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Story Behind One of Obama's Most Touching Moments As President [Watch (HLS stream): The Story Behind One of Obama's Most Touching Moments As President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pbtyChm9.m3u8) (1:52)  _Published 2017-01-19. The story behind one of the most viral moments of Obama's presidency, as told by his Chief Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 8, 2017 7:05 PM UTC The story behind one of the most viral moments of Obama's presidency, as told by his Chief Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 8, 2017 7:05 PM UTC [Pete Souza](http://time.com/4630509/obama-photos/), the former chief [official White House photographer](http://time.com/4639338/obama-photos-we-loved/) for President Barack Obama, posted a powerful photo on his Instagram page highlighting the lack of women in senior positions in President Donald Trump’s administration. Souza’s photo is cropped to show the bottom half of several people attending a meeting in what looks like the Oval Office. From looking at the legs, feet and clothing of those pictured, one can surmise that three of the people in the meeting are women – and the other is the former president. “Meeting with top advisors. This is a full-frame picture. I guess you’d say I was trying to make a point,” Souza captioned the photo. At time of writing, the Instagram picture has received more than 51,000 likes. President Trump has been [criticized](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/cabinet-diversity-impact-policy-making/) for the lack of gender and racial diversity in his administration. In a piece for _Motto_ last month, Gretchen Carlson [wrote](http://motto.time.com/4636388/gretchen-carlson-donald-trump-women-cabinet/): “Women not being selected for more than a few high-level posts should be a bipartisan concern.” \[H/T [Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obamas-photographer-posted-photo-of-top-advisors-to-make-a-point-about-equality%5Fus%5F589a3636e4b0c1284f2901da?)\] ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] One of the things that's happened with this [00:05] administration is social media exploded. So certain [00:10] photographs tend to take off and go viral, as you say. [00:15] And I think that people seem to gravitate towards [00:18] Pictures of him interacting with little kids. Carlton [00:24] Philadelphia was a national security staffer, and he had [00:27] come in to have a family photograph with the [00:30] president. And his son Jacob said that he had a [00:33] question for the president and said that his friends [00:36] had said his haircut was just like the president's And [00:43] he wanted to see if it really was, so the president bent [00:44] over and he touched his head. It's been interesting in [00:46] the last couple years how this has become one of the [00:49] iconic photographs of the administration. You know, it's [00:52] kind of a grab shot. But I think it just tells you a lot [00:55] about him as a person, that he would be willing to not [00:55] only bend down like that but have this little boy touch [00:56] his head. High five. You are so strong! [01:00] You knocked me over. [01:12] You could sort of see what he must have been like as a [01:12] dad when Sasha and Malia were one and two through [01:13] how he interacts with these young kids now. Have you [01:19] ever seen a picture of a president [01:23] of the United States literally lying on the rug of the [01:27] Oval Office hoisting a little girl up in [01:32] the air? She's got her elephant costume on or crawling [01:35] around on the floor with Jen Psaki's daughter. It's [01:40] like a break in the day for him that he relishes and I [01:41] think it tells you a lot about What [01:46] he's like a person. 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