Photos offer window into George W. Bush's White House During his eight years as official White House photographer, Los Angeles native Eric Draper had unparalleled access to President George W. Bush during some of the nation's pivotal moments. Draper was with Bush in a Florida classroom when the president learned about the Sept. He also was with Bush aboard Air Force One that day, when the president learned he could not immediately return to Washington. Draper documented the president delivering the famous bullhorn speech at the World Trade Center site. He captured images of Bush moments after the president decided to go to war with Iraq, just after he emerged from a meeting in the Situation Room with his top advisors. The door swung open, he comes bolting out of the room. His face was inches from my face. When I jumped out of the way, I saw his eyes ... he was very emotional. I knew there was something going on," Draper said. I followed him, and he walked through the West Wing, the Oval Office and out to the South Lawn. I decided to hold back and wait. He walked the entire circle of the South Lawn with the dogs. As he approached, I made this picture in the book - you can see the weight of that decision still in his face. Typically, Draper said, he didn't engage in conversation with the president, preferring the "fly-on-the-wall" photojournalism approach. There would be days I wouldn't speak to him at all. On this day, the president said, "Eric, are you interested in history?" " Draper said. He replied, "Yes sir," and the president said, "These pictures you're taking are really important." Draper compiled those photographs and more from Bush's time in office into a book released earlier this year, "Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush." At 7 p.m. Tuesday, he will discuss the collection and sign copies at Vromen's Bookstore in Pasadena. He took nearly 1 million photos while at the White House -- some less weighty than those taken during the terrorist attacks or the war. The book includes 149 pictures and includes Bush with his family, joking around with world leaders, on his Texas ranch, snuggling with his dog. "He didn't really take himself too seriously," Draper said. He took the job seriously. Draper, 48, grew up in the West Adams district of Los Angeles before graduating from high school in Cerritos and attending Cal State-Long Beach. He discovered his love of photography during high school, when a friend talked him into joining the school newspaper staff. "That's when I fell in love with photojournalism," Draper said. The ability to see so many different types of people -- the camera was like a ticket into their lives, to tell their story. Prior to working for Bush, Draper worked at the Associated Press and at newspapers in Washington, California and New Mexico. Since his White House stint, Draper photographed the political campaigns of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the 2010 gubernatorial bid of Republican Meg Whitman. "I'd like to continue to contribute, and I think politics is fascinating," he said.