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Barack Obama’s photographer lands book deal after gaining new following for trolling Trump

Former White House photographer Pete Souza took millions of photos during Barack Obama's two-term presidency: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Former White House photographer Pete Souza took millions of photos during Barack Obama's two-term presidency: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Barack Obama’s former photographer has signed a book deal after gaining a large Instagram following for posts trolling Donald Trump.

Pete Souza famously took two million photos during Mr Obama's eight years in the White House, following the President and his family around the world.

Publisher Little, Brown, and Company said the book, titled Obama: An Intimate Portrait, would be a collection of 300 photographs with narratives of Mr Souza’s memories for context.

Mr Souza told The New York Times in an email that “there are pictures that certainly show him stressing in the Situation Room over major decisions, but also pictures of him interacting in fun moments with his girls".

He has also built a social media presence - with over a million followers on Instagram - for his criticism of Mr Trump through his medium of choice: photographs.

His commentary comes in the form of posts like the one below, which refers to the day the White House announced it would not make visitor logs public, as the Obama administration had.

Hmm. Bet he was noted in the visitor logs.

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Apr 14, 2017 at 4:36pm PDT

Following Mr Trump’s travel ban on those from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the US, Mr Souza posted a photo to Instagram of Mr Obama smiling and talking to a young Muslim refugee.

Talking with a young refugee at a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in 2015.

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 29, 2017 at 5:16am PST

Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, made headlines when she went to dinner at the White House and posted a picture to her Facebook account posing in front of a painting of former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

Ms Palin was standing with musicians Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, who once called for the death of Mr Obama and Ms Clinton.

In response, Mr Souza posted an image of Mr Obama and Chief of Staff Bill Daley sitting in front of Republican President Ronald Reagan’s portrait with the simple caption: “Being respectful.”

Being respectful.

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Apr 20, 2017 at 12:22pm PDT