"Spirit" of Fun and Thoughtfulness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chance Encounter
In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles ,

he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack,

who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs

that she could use in her portfolio

 

 

 

 

Handsome

Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama,

Jack remembers only that

"He was really cute. but, what else does a 20-year-old girl remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Styled

In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially,

but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out.

He was very charismatic even then

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prop
Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist.
Pose
Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students.

But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello.

"He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed."

 

On a dare from a skeptical friend,

Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot.

Searcher
Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement,

Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom.
Smile

When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says.

"I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film."

 

 

 

 

 

Charm
For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box,

so that they could not be used until after the election,

when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughtful
Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit" of fun and thoughtfulness.

The Man Who Would Be President
"I'm not political," Jack says,

"(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Marilyn