A photographer shares never-published photos chronicling the former President and first lady's rise to the White House
Barack and Michelle Obama have a quiet moment together on a campaign bus in January 2008. They had been campaigning separately all week, and it was a rare chance for them to spend some time together.
Shell was intrigued by the buzz behind this relative unknown who was running for the US Senate but hadn’t made an impact yet nationally. She was also impressed by the way he could work a room, crack jokes and make everyone feel comfortable, whether it was the Secret Service, the janitors or the union workers in attendance.
For the next 15 years, Shell would go on to take thousands of photos of Obama and his family, chronicling their stratospheric rise to the White House.Obama washes dishes after he and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, had breakfast together at their home in Chicago in October 2006. “My favorite thing when I go home is breakfast with the kids and taking them to school,” he told Shell back then.
“In between rallies when we were waiting to be introduced or waiting to go on, always had this excess energy,” Shell said. “This is what a campaign's like: You sleep on a bus. You're away from your kids. You're sleeping in your clothes,” said Shell, who has covered several presidential campaigns.“When we were riding in the van once and he was about to fall asleep, I asked for permission. He told me, ‘Just as long as my mouth doesn't fall open.’
“I had been a White House photographer for eight years, so I knew I would never see my son,” said Shell, who was Al Gore’s official photographer during his vice presidency.
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