I previously showed a photograph of Barack Obama that showed his resoled shoes. It’s a telling photograph, and it was taken by Callie Shell. Click on that hyperlink: it will take you to many more great photographs of Obama on the campaign trail. Not only are the photographs great — TIME has had many great photographers working for them over the decades, including Shell — but the commentary and the context provided make them even more enjoyable.
2 thoughts on “Callie Shell captures Obama”
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Smart People I Know 
Hi,
found the Callie Shell Obama photos on the digitaljournalist site, after hearing her name on CNN. And of course the worn shoes was my favorite too : ) It speaks volumes, doesn’t it… So much that I wanted to post it on my FB page, but then the decent citizen got the better of me, since I have no copy-right to the picture, and wouldn’t want to rob the artiste of any of her rights : )
I concur with you on how moving and engrossing her commentary of each image is, telling a story. It surprised me then when I went to the CNN site, and it was not her comments but some generic, boring narration refering to the people in the pictures as “voters” etc. Something was definitely lost, a little bit of a mystery to me why they wouldn’t keep that part of the “package”.
I think Callie Shell is a wonderful photographer, and while Barack Obama is a captivating person, she brings something additional to the photographs. Like the one with the worn shoes. (I love that one.) But I liked the others, too, like the way Obama puts his arms on that woman or the way Michelle Obama “dusts” him off while he closes his eyes and practices. Those are all great moments that Shell captures. She is excellent technically, but being a great photographer is much more, and she has that, I believe.
I understand your concern about posting his photo. I had that as well. However, I wanted to use it in a “fair use” way to make a comment on it. And I also wanted others to go look at the site. When I put that together, I decided it would be appropriate to use that one image.
I didn’t know that about the CNN site. I suspect they have a different way of using photojournalism that is fitting of a big news organization. The other site is artistically focused, I think, and it shows, as you pointed out.
I think of the many great things that Barack Obama will do, one of those will be to inspire people to be greater than they perceive themselves to be. And one of those ways that people will be greater is artistically. The proof will have to be seen, but I have faith that that is what will happen. So we will get more great images like Callie Shell’s.