Culture

Obama's Private Election Night Photos

by Jarrett Martineau | November 7, 2008 at 08:51 am

15910 views | 31 Recommendations | 5 comments

Barack Obama has made the very web-savvy move to post 82 of his private family photos from election night to Flickr.

Photos

Obama's Private Election Night Photos Posted to Flickr

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uploaded by Jason Sanders

But in posting private pics of the first black President-Elect to the popular photo-sharing site, it's possible that the huge spike in traffic crashed the site, as Flickr has been experiencing downtime this morning.

As of Friday morning, the photo set had already been viewed over 100,000 times.

View the complete set attached to this story: Obama's Private Election Photos

The world was today afforded an unprecedented glimpse behind the scenes of a presidential victory as Barack Obama allowed personal photographs to be posted on his Flickr account from Tuesday night’s historic election.
The series of 82 pictures begins in a Chicago hotel room as the Obama family waits anxiously for the results to come in. A declaration of his election as the 44th President of the United States is then captured as it flashes up on the television. The next shots show jubilant relatives pouring in, along with the Bidens, to share their congratulations.

The photographs capture a number of intimate moments between family members and colleagues as they celebrate: Joe Biden cupping seven-year-old Sasha’s chin, Mr Obama and Mr Biden sharing a moment of contemplation, Mr Obama holding his mother-in-law’s hand as they watch John McCain’s concession speech, Sasha and Malia playing with their cousins.

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angelica_77777777

at 17:37 on November 7th, 2008

They are fabulous photos! I've never used flickr before - but I imagine it's a very popular site. I saw Obama on the news this morning and as he's trying to put together his team for the White House -- he looked extremely tired during the very brief interview on CBC. I can imagine that he must be exhausted as he realizes that there is so much to be done -- especially on the Economy -- and he's got to put together a very good team of people with knowledge, experience, and passion!

loscuadernosdejulia

at 06:57 on November 8th, 2008

I have been a regular user of Flickr since 2007, and it can be quite powerful. I went to a Barbra Streisand concert in July 2007; they didn't allow making photos of the show, but I did took a few pics of the stage before the show and between the acts. I made several good friends through those photos, not to mention the attention they garnered in terms of the number of views. I think, though, with Obama making such use of the web during his campaign it is a clear indication of how powerful the Internet actually is, if not in our use of it, then definitely in its use of us. If you consider the role that his being on Facebook has played in eliminating Mrs Clinton from the race and securing him against McCain, the Internet has simply been an extremely important agent in the race. Thanks for the story.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 14:37 on November 8th, 2008

Very interesting photos! Thanks for this story, Jarrett.

András Bártházi

at 11:11 on November 10th, 2008

You can see an iPhone and an Apple Air on one of the photos. :P

phoenixesrose

at 13:51 on November 12th, 2008

I think the most telling photo in the set is the one with Obama on the couch watching McCain's consolation speech.

While the rest of us were crying, screaming, cheering and thanks be to God'ing over the victory, Obama remains calm and collected. He watches and listens and ponders McCain's words.

It shows such a depth of character, thought, and respect that I was in awe.

Thanks for sharing these.