My dream job doesn’t exist anymore.

I wanted to be the official White House photographer for President Barack Obama. Of course, as a teenager who barely knows how to use the camera on the iPhone, there was no chance that I would’ve ever gotten the job.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t dream.

I’m scrolling through the White House photo album right now; the pictures are beautiful. There are so many of  President Obama playing with babies. Shiny shoes, suit jackets hanging on chairs, he looks just as focused as he did during the Osama Bin Laden raid as he does in the picture, guiding a small yellow ball towards a baby sitting on the floor with the same hand that put hundreds of bills into law.

Imagine roaming the halls of the White House, looking for photo-worthy opportunities. From capturing the President in his most important moments, to taking pictures of Joe Biden doing Joe Biden things (i.e. eating ice cream), there are thousands of stories just waiting to be told.

The atmosphere that hangs over the time only makes the photos more powerful. America, during Obama’s time in office, was in the throws of international conflict. As the Syrian Civil War continued to claim thousands of lives, European cooperation was in shambles, and Russia and China ramped up their aggressive actions, I can only imagine the weight on President Obama’s, and the rest of the White House staff’s, shoulders. There’s one picture where the President is sitting on the famous Oval Office desk, hands glued to the table, looking down. You can see the silver strands that invade his once dark hair. His shoulders are bent upwards, and if you look just hard enough, you can see the load of the world that Atlas used to bear. The weight in the air is palpable.

Yet even in the most stressful of times, there were moments of pure happiness. One picture shows the President and First Lady shaking it down with 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin. Mrs. Obama holds her hand gracefully upwards, while dancing with the never younger Mrs. McLaurin. President Obama is flashing such a wide smile that the age that the office put on him almost disappears in the moment. In that picture, he looks like the same youthful, charming Illinois senator that captured America’s heart at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

There’s another picture of the President spontaneously breaking out in dance with his personal aide. His hands are up, fingers snapping, and his face is calm and collected. His eyes are closed, and even in such a turbulent position, he seems to be at peace.

Each picture is a slice of his presidency, composed of the stressful moments (the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound), and the jovial ones (a little kid feeling the President’s hair). The last picture of the month captures Obama and Biden hugging it out, right after Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom to his closest friend.

Farewell, President Obama. It’s been real.