Callie Shell - Obama - Digital Journalist

Callie Shell - Obama [Return to Feature]

I made this picture in October of 2006 during the Illinois State races. Just three of us in a car: Senator Obama, a friend of his who was driving and me. I don't think you could make this picture now. He had stopped at a rest area along the back roads of Illinois.There are no Secret Service agents, no staff, no motorcade or traveling press corps. It is a sharp contrast to the 200,000-person crowd that greeted Obama in Berlin less than two years later.

South Carolina proved Obama could make a stand in the South. I live in Charleston, S.C., and his win in the state's primary really made a difference to people - both black and white. Several days before the primary, my cab driver told me he was going to vote for Obama but he didn't believe a black man could win against a white man or woman. I called him after the election to see if he voted. With pride in his voice he said, "I did and I took my kid with me and the next day I told him he was right. He could be anything he wanted to be someday, even President."

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These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.

Obama had just finished a rally in Columbia after winning the South Carolina primary. The Secret Service and staff were trying to get him backstage past the curtains but more and more people kept pushing toward him. This father had positioned himself right by the curtains. He said that even if his daughter didn't remember Obama's words, he knew she would remember meeting him. They both got to meet him.

Waiting: Obama listens from a back stairwell as he is introduced in Muscatine, Iowa. It was his second or third speech of the day. Unlike many of the politicians I have photographed in the past, I find it is easy to get a photograph of Obama alone. He lets his staff do their jobs and not fuss over him. Nov. 7, 2007.

From the early days of 2006, people in Iowa turned out for events with Obama. I knew he could win the state. People of all races, income levels and ages would show up en masse. This continued throughout 2007 and 2008. Burlington, Iowa, 11/7/2007.

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A Mother's Grief: This woman had lost her son in Iraq. She wanted people to know that it was not unpatriotic to be against the war and for Obama. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2/11/2007.

A young man gets a haircut while Michelle and Barack Obama stop for a photo-op on primary day in Philadelphia, Pa., 4/22/2008.

I loved that he cleaned up after himself before leaving an ice cream shop in Wapello, Iowa. He didn't have to. The event was over and the press had left. He is used to taking care of things himself and I think this is one of the qualities that makes Obama different from so many other political candidates I've encountered. Nov. 7, 2007.

While Obama goes over his speech in his head, Michelle and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, check him over. Several minutes later he walked out to announce he was running for President of the United States. Springfield, Ill., 2/10/2007.

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Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seen on a screen during the CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate, Charleston, S.C., 7/23/2007. They were just two of eight candidates at that point.

On the eve of the Indiana primary and a day that began at 4:30 a.m., cellphones and cameras caught images of Obama as he made a late-night stop to greet auto factory workers during a shift change in Indianapolis, Ind., 5/5/2008.

Despite losing the New Hampshire primary to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama drew a large crowd in Nashua, 1/8/2008. Right before he went out to this rally on primary night, he said, "This is good; the loss will make us stronger. We do not want people to get too sure of this campaign after one win in Iowa."

On the campaign bus driving through New Hampshire, 1/6/2008.

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Asleep somewhere between Derry and Salem, N.H., 1/6/2008. With three rallies down and two more to go, Obama catches a quick nap on his campaign bus as it headed for Salem. I once asked him when we were traveling through Illinois and he was about to fall asleep, if he cared if I took a picture. He said I was fine photographing him until his jaw dropped. This night his jaw dropped after I took three frames.

Young supporters listen to Obama speak during a rally at South Carolina State College, Orangeburg, S.C., 1/22/2008.

Whistle Stop: Locals wave goodbye to Obama as his campaign train pulls out of Downingtown, Pa., 4/19/2008.

Two staffers had just passed this site and done two pull-ups. Not to be outdone, Obama did three with ease, dropped and walked out to make a speech. Missoula, Mont., 4/5/2008.

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Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008.

The Obama family on their campaign bus before a Fourth of July picnic in Butte, Mont., 7/4/2008. They are watching a Fourth of July celebration while the crowd arrives at their own event.

It was primary morning in New Hampshire. Barack and Michelle Obama had been campaigning separately all week. In the first few months of 2008 their private time seemed to consist of a few crossover moments in back hallways before rallies. This moment was rare and you could tell they just loved being able to sit together. Jan. 8, 2008.

The Obama family in Des Moines, Iowa. Daughters Malia on the left and Sasha on the right. School began a few days later for them. This was the first day of the campaign year, Jan. 1, 2008.

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Obama surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after a rally in Pittsburgh, Pa., 4/21/2008.

Obama rides a freight elevator up to his victory rally the night of the last primary. He had just secured enough votes and delegates to win the nomination. St. Paul, Minn., 8/7/2008.

A waving Barack Obama walks out to a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin, Germany, 7/24/2008. The view has changed from campaigning the back roads of Illinois two years earlier.

The end of the Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colo., 8/28/2008.