The day Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, Bernstein was in a suite with LeBron James and his two children. While the world watched Obama’s oaths, Bernstein found his focus split between the screen and James and his sons.

MORE: Andy Bernstein’s favorite photos | LeBron unhappy with baseline cameras

“He was with the Cavs then, it was his off day (in Los Angeles), and it was literally me, LeBron and his two kids in the other room with a big TV,” Bernstein said. “So I’m watching the whole thing unfold, and he’s trying to watch it, and the kids were little then, and they are jumping all over him. It was just hilarious. It was such a special moment to be able to be there and obviously an incredibly historic moment for our country, and then for me to be able to watch it and record it with him. It sort of — I don’t want to say ‘broke the ice’ because there was never any ice, but we shared a moment.”

For most of Bernstein’s career, he hasn’t needed a TV screen. He is the official photographer for the NBA, among the other professional sports leagues he contracts with. Bernstein has shot every NBA Finals since 1983, and has been up close for the most special, even if fleeting, moments in NBA history. 

When Isiah Thomas scored 43 points on one ankle in the 1988 NBA Finals, Bernstein was under the basket, chronicling every swish and every wince. After Phil Jackson won his 11th NBA title, the most ever for a head coach, with the Lakers in 2010, Bernstein and Jackson co-authored a book called Journey to the Ring. Jackson provided the writing and Bernstein delivered candid photos from the entire season–even personal, off-the-court moments like the team Thanksgiving. 

And when Michael Jordan won his first ever NBA title, Bernstein was there, inches away, photographing one of the iconic moments in all of sports as Jordan cried while hugging the Larry O’Brien Trophy.  Somewhere between all of that, Bernstein was no longer simply photographing NBA legends. He became one himself. 

When Kobe Bryant was first drafted to the NBA, Bernstein introduced himself, only to find that Bryant already knew who he was. Bernstein’s name was on the basketball posters he had growing up.

In an interview with Sporting News after the 2015 NBA Finals, Bernstein shared some of his favorite memories of his long career spent inches away from the biggest stars in the NBA. What follows is an edited transcript of the interview.

Q: It can be difficult to get pro athletes to be vulnerable around media, how do you build that kind of trust with the players and coaches?

A: You hit the nail on the head, that key word is trust. I’m a pretty outgoing guy, and I love friendships, but I learned very early in my career that relationships within my work were key to my success. I didn’t just want to come record the game and go home. I love all the inner-workings of the game. I love the personalities. I loved being with the guys, traveling with them, locker room training room. … The guy who really helped me from the very beginning was Pat Riley. When I was first starting out, and he became coach, I had the type of personality where I put myself in situations where you had to say no to me in order for me to get it. Pat understood that I was the kind of guy who needed to do a little more as a photographer.

So as I approached his huddle to try to shoot in the huddle, at first he didn’t welcome me very much. But then he saw I was very persistent. We actually talked about it, and I said ‘Coach, I’d love to be able to shoot the huddle and get you during the timeout talking to some of the guys,’ and he got it. He totally got it. He said, ‘you know what Andy? You’ve been trying to do it, go ahead and do it.’ And that gave me a lot of self-confidence. It built trust very early. When you have the trust of the head guy, the coach, it all trickles down.

In those days there weren’t so many layers of barricades between what I do and the team. Red tape or whatever you want to call it. So that gave me a tremendous amount of self-confidence. And as my career grew, I was able to use my personality, and use the trust that I had built first with the Lakers and then through Phil (Jackson) with the Bulls, people got used to seeing me around, and they knew I was cool and they didn’t have to worry about me. So there was a tremendous amount of trust there.

Q: Spending as much time as you did with the Lakers, what do you remember about the dynamic between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant?

A: I have some really great memories of those two guys together. We did numerous photo shoots together for the NBA, for the team. Those guys were great to work with. They always were fun with each other, being in the training room with them, in the locker room, on the bus, plane, whatever. I think a lot of people from the outside like to overblow the tension, so to speak, that they had. Honestly I don’t think there was any tension. I think they were just very strong personalities and different kinds of guys.

I remember a couple of instances in particular. One was when the Lakers were playing Indiana in the Finals, and Kobe was injured and couldn’t play that night. And Shaq gave him a piggy-back ride from the bus to the locker room. How many guys would do that, first of all? That was a wonderful moment.

And then when they won their first championship together, and just the joy they had to win it together, and just the photos that came out of that of them on the court and in the locker room with the trophy, and the portraits that we did with the two of them together and with Phil. 

There was one Finals, I don’t remember which one, might have been New Jersey (2002), where it was just the two of them alone in the training room with (longtime Lakers trainer) Gary Vitti. And they were just talking like two guys, like you and I, if we were in the bar together, we would talk. It was a beautiful moment to see that these guys truly were teammates. And again, they don’t have the same personality, but it doesn’t mean they can’t get along and be friends and have the same goal and mission. That’s the relationship that I saw from the beginning until they parted ways. 

Q: Kobe seems like such an interesting personality off the court. What kind of interactions have you had with him?

A: When Kobe became a father, I don’t want to say he changed, but a lot matured in him. On the court, and then obviously off the court, because when you become a dad you’ve gotta change pretty fast. It’s the real world, and it’s hitting you between the eyes. So we would have some “Dad” conversations. I used to love when he would bring his girls to the game, and he would wait for them after the game, and it was such a sweet moment and you really would see the human, beautiful side of his personality. 

When he was injured this past season, you could just see how incredibly frustrating it was for him not to be able to come out and help the team, and for him to be able to perform. He asked me for some photos of what he called his “muses,” and this is before he made his Showtime piece called Kobe’s “Muse.” And basically it was iconic photos of mine of the icons of the game — Magic, Bird, Jordan — that used as fuel to kind of get his juices flowing and get him through his recovery. And that was extremely humbling to me that we would come to me and ask for that. I’m truly speechless about it because I just love the fact that I could have had some hand in keeping his motivation going and fuel his recovery. 

Q: What’s been your favorite Finals to cover?

A: Well, I’ve gotta go back to the ‘85 Lakers championship for a few reasons. One, historically, in the history of the NBA, it was amazing. The Lakers finally beat the Celtics after so many tries. They beat them in Boston Garden, which nobody had ever done (in the Finals). They atoned for the tragic end of the 1984 Finals, which they probably should have won. And then I was lucky enough to get my first ever Sports Illustrated cover. … It was just an amazing series to cover.

Q: What about that series stands out?

A: People sort of left Kareem for dead in that series. The “Memorial Day Massacre,” and then we had to wait four days for game 2. Kareem did not play well in Game 1, and everyone had pretty much written him off, and he wouldn’t take any of that. He actually came back to be MVP of that series. That was pretty unbelievable. 

The celebration, in the locker room, was tremendous. We partied all night in Boston at the hotel and got on the plane first thing in the morning and flew to Washington and went right to the White House to meet with President Reagan. 

That doesn’t happen anymore, obviously. Now teams go in the offseason, or when they’re back East and have an off day between games. But we went directly from Boston to the White House, had the ceremony in the rose garden with Reagan, and went back to LA. No one had slept. And then we were greeted by thousands of fans in LA when we got back. And that was just amazing. Again, it will never happen again, and it was just a tremendous memory.

Q: What goes on at a championship celebration party?

A: It’s gotta be kind of like a mix between a frat party, high school reunion and an opening night party for a broadway show or something. The NBA season, and then the playoffs and the Finals, everything goes at warp speed. And finally they win the championship and it’s like over in that instant. So there’s like this whole emotional release, I guess, of excitement, joy, gratitude and camaraderie, all that. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s not anything crazy. Guys aren’t throwing furniture out the window or anything. But it’s a tremendous celebration. Everyone is just enjoying the moment. 

Q: I’m sure you get asked this a lot, especially with the photo of Jordan crying with the trophy being as big as it is, but what did you see from Michael Jordan that the public would be surprised to know about him?

A: I got to spend a lot of time with Michael off the court, mostly through my experience with the Dream Team in (the 1992 Barcelona Olympics). I was embedded with the team from Day One training camp through their gold medal in Barcelona. I lived with them, traveled with them, everything.

Michael’s competitive nature is obviously well documented and historic, be it on the basketball court, golf course, playing cards with the guys, whatever it is. Michael is just, what I found, a fun guy to be around. Guys really just liked being with him. He didn’t have to be Michael Jordan all the time. He could be one of the guys and play cards or smoke cigars and sit around and shoot the breeze. And I just admired that about him. I admired that behind the scenes he was kind of like a regular guy. And he would dish it out and he would take it from the other guys. There was no sort of reverence, ‘oh, it’s Michael Jordan,’ kind of the thing.

I see sort of parallels with LeBron in that sense. There’s such a mystique about LeBron as there was with Michael, and well deserved and earned and everything. But off the court LeBron and Michael are very similar guys in my opinion. They’re family guys, they love their kids, they take an interest in their teammates, they like to poke fun, they’re practical jokers, all that stuff. So that’s the side of the players of that caliber and that iconic status that I love to be around.

Q: What was it like to cover the Dream Team? That must have been surreal.

A: Yep. Yep. I always say if I could have retired after that, I would have been very happy that I had a great career. That was an unbelievable experience. We kind of knew it at the time, obviously, because of the assembly of what players were in there. But now looking back so many years later, it will never happen again. And the memories are unbelievable. Just being a fly on the wall with those guys and going to practice, and hanging out in the training room and all that stuff. They are memories I’ll have forever. 

Q: What were they like during that stretch? Did they know all along how historic and dominant they would be?

A: They knew, yeah. They knew that they were a special group. That they were unstoppable, and untouchable. Put it this way: They never questioned if they would win. It was always how much they would win by. And I think the rest of the basketball world, sports world, just your basic guy on the street knew that too. But I have to credit Coach (Chuck) Daly. Coach Daly was such a charismatic figure and just the perfect coach for that team. He just knew how to manage those guys and whatever egos he had to deal with, he knew how to do it. And I remember Coach Daly, when we got to Monte Carlo, he said that he had three goals for the Olympics: One, He would have never have to get up out of his seat; two is that he would never have to call a timeout; three was that he would never miss a tee-time, playing golf.

Q: And I imagine No. 3 was the priority?

A: Yeah, it actually was. Jordan once played 36 holes before practice. And keep in mind we’re in Monte Carlo. And things don’t get started in Monte Carlo until 4 a.m.

When they got on the court, they were serious. The weren’t fooling around out there. It was really a team atmosphere. It wasn’t one guy trying to be the man. Michael Jordan was not the leading scorer on that team. Chris Mullin was just as much a part of that team as John Stockton was, as Magic was. Unfortunately Larry (Bird) was injured, and we didn’t have the full Larry Bird that everyone wanted, but he was still part of it.

I remember one of the great friendships that came out of it, believe it or not, was Bird and Patrick Ewing. Two guys from different backgrounds, and all of the sudden they were like best friends. It was wonderful. 

I think it was forged during the practices. And there were a lot of off-court moments. Once we got to Barcelona, it was virtually impossible for them to leave the hotel. The hotel was surrounded by fans 24 hours a day. So they were basically sequestered in the hotel, and whenever they left the hotel it was by police escort to go the game. So there was a lot of together time. Guys played cards, there was ping-pong, there was pool. We had the entire hotel. The entire hotel was USA Basketball, families, traveling parties and stuff. So I think it came through that. 

Q: Are there ever situations where they’re too personal, so you don’t photograph?

A: Oh yeah, 100 percent. The most specific memory that comes to mind is when the Pistons beat the Lakers in ‘89, when they won it in the forum. … And at the Forum, the Lakers’ locker room and the visitors’ locker room were basically connected by the shower. So the shortcut to get from one locker room to the other was literally through the shower. They didn’t share the shower, but there was basically a partition between them. But in order for me to get from one locker room to the other, I knew the back way and didn’t have to deal with the hall way that was jammed with media people.

I wanted to go to the Laker locker room to get dejection or somberness. … So I go through the shower, and as I’m going through the Laker shower, there’s Magic and (Michael) Cooper, fully dressed, in the shower, and I don’t know if they were crying or not, but it was not a good moment to pick up the camera. Now, would it have been a great picture? Yeah. Probably would have been one of my more memorable, historic, iconic pictures. But I didn’t take that picture. And I’ll never regret not taking it. And I didn’t take it out of respect for the moment, and especially out of respect for those two guys, who I cared for. I could feel that it was a private moment and I shouldn’t have been privy to that, so I didn’t want to exploit it.

Q: Do you think that helped you earn trust with those two?

A: Actually, I don’t think either of those guys knows that it didn’t happen. I never discussed it with either of those players, or in public.

Q: What are some of your personal favorite photos?

A: Oy. Well, like you touched on earlier, Jordan holding the trophy in 1991 with his dad, that’s a very significant photo in many ways. That’s definitely a favorite. My Magic and Bird photo from the 1987 Finals, intertwined at Boston Garden, I love that one. One of my favorites was not an action photo, it was from the 2009 Finals with Phil and Kobe, right after they won the Championship in Orlando. They had hugged, and then the moment right after the hug was a very paternal moment between Phil and Kobe. And there was so much going on that year, with (Kobe), and could he win without Shaq? It was just an amazing moment in time and just complete chaos, as you can imagine, postseason right after the game, on the court. I was very lucky to get that shot. 

On the non-NBA side, I was lucky enough to be there when Kirk Gibson hit the home run in ‘88. I have a great picture of him taking the swing that propelled them to that win, which was truly historic to say the least. 

And then I have to bring hockey into this. When Dustin Brown lifted the cup in 2012 on Staples Center ice. It was just such an unbelievable moment, first of all as a hockey fan, second of all having worked for the Kings for over 30 years and knowing how deep in the mud they had been for so long, and how the core fans had stuck with them. And finally he is hoisting the cup. And none of us ever thought we would see that happen, honestly. And not only was he hoisting the cup, it was on home ice.

Honestly I’m thankful that I clicked the shutter, because I was so excited to see that happen. It was amazing. 

Q: How do you make sure you’re getting the right angle or the right shot?

A: My remote cameras are situated on the opposite side of the court from where I’m sitting. So I might have nine or 10 cameras in strategic locations on that other side of the court. I have two cameras in front of me that I use. One has a shorter lens, which is my near-court action. Then I have another with a very long lens that I use for everything that’s happening downcourt. Attached to that camera, the downcourt one, there’s an auxiliary button taped right next to the shutter button. In an instant, I can decide, do I want to shoot with the camera I’m looking at? Or, I can push that auxiliary button and shoot with the remote cameras, which has become a routine for me. Very rarely do I make a mistake and shoot with the wrong camera. 

All the remote cameras are looking at one point in front of the rim. If the action is there, blocked shot, dunk, rebound, guys packed in, whatever. If the action is there, I’m going to shoot with the remotes. The biggest difference the way I shoot and say, a newspaper or a wire service would shoot is that I’m shooting with a set of strobes in the ceiling, which means that I can only shoot one picture every four seconds. There’s no sequence, there’s no motor drive. It’s one shot, wait for seconds, get another shot. It’s a very disciplined, and sometimes a very frustrating way to shoot, because as you know, a lot can happen in four seconds. But it’s the way I’ve been shooting for 30-something years and I’m used to it. 

Q: Does any of that equipment ever malfunction? 

A: Oh, yes. The other night (In Game 5 of the NBA Finals). In order for me to trigger the remote cameras, there actually has to be a wire that goes from my button, all the way around the court that goes to a radio unit. And as soon as I press that button, that radio unit tells all the other radio units attached to the remote cameras to go off. Sometime in the third quarter of Game 5, that trigger line either got cut, or a short, or something. And it’s going around the court, in the trough, and there’s no way to trouble shoot it. So I lost all my remotes, which is tragic to say the least. 

Somehow, my son was able to figure out where it was, and did a quick fix. But we didn’t lose much. Luckily it happened during a TV timeout towards the end of the quarter so we had some extra time. But that’s kind of your worst nightmare. The other worst nightmare is when the strobes stop working, which happens sometimes. You’re dependent on all kinds of factors going on.