EXCLUSIVE: Lost Photos of Obama Revealed
Magazine unveils never before published photos of Obama from 1980
Updated 12:26 PM EDT, Wed, Dec 17, 2008
It comes as no surprise that six weeks after being the first black man elected president of the United States, Barack Obama has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008.
But there is one big surprise: Included in the special issue honoring Obama is a compelling collection of long lost photos from his days at Occidental College taken by a fellow student and aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack.
"You can see he is just posing, initially," Jack told Time. "But as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then."
When Obama became a national figure, Jack went down to her basement and dug up the negatives from the 1980 shoot.
The rediscovery "blew me away," Jack told Time. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film."
Jack, now a professional psychologist, wisely put the negatives in a safety deposit box until after the election so they would in no way be used against Obama during the campaign. Now she can share them with the world.
Obama's two-year campaign set fund-raising records, changed the electoral map and resulted in the most votes ever for a presidential candidate.
Lest you worry the elections and accolades go to his head, Obama told the magazine, "I've got a pretty healthy ego."
In a lengthy interview with Time, the president-elect talks about his fears (nuclear proliferation), hopes (I want the American people to be able to say, "I feel like the government's working for me") and management style ("Hollering at people isn't usually that effective," he prefers "just making people feel really guilty").
The magazine picked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Gov. Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou as runners-up.
His selection as Person of the Year comes a year after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Previous individual winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York
First Published: Dec 17, 2008 9:45 AM EDT
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