Barack Obama Close Up (SLIDESHOW)

In the 2008 presidential campaign, I worked on Obama for America campaign press teams in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Colorado. Most of that time I was doing things like booking interviews and preparing briefings for them. But I also took thousands of photos of Barack Obama. Just recently, I finally found time to finish sorting through them all, and I was struck all over again by the powerful sense of Obama's character revealed through the lens. After two years of often wild speculation about our 44th president -- most of it from people with no first hand knowledge -- I'd like to add this perspective from close up, within the crucible of a presidential campaign.

Although I spent a quite a lot of time around Obama, I was one of many, and hardly a confidant. But you can't zoom in on someone's face thousands of times without learning something about him. Close up, close enough to focus on an eyelash, you glimpse the person behind the persona.