During his eight years as the chief official White House photographer for President Barack Obama, Pete Souza, the former director of the White House Photo Office, traveled to all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Those trips added up to more than 1,300 flights on Air Force One and nearly 1.5 million miles.

“My job was to basically tag along with the president and visually capture the professional and personal moments in his life,” said Mr. Souza, 62, who was also the official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan.

He shot almost two million images during his tenure with Mr. Obama, and his new book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait,” released in November, has 315 of the most memorable ones. Besides the tension-filled shot of Mr. Obama and his advisers in the Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden mission, there are several pictures from the president’s travels including an image of him with his family in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro at night in the fog and a picture of him looking at the Great Wall of China.

Below are edited excerpts from an interview with Mr. Souza.

Can you share some of your most memorable trips with President Obama?