Fresh take on Michelle Obama
Take a peek inside a new coffee table book of intimate, never-before-seen photos of the former first lady
FROLICKING with the family dogs, picking kale in the garden, kicking off her heels so she can get comfortable while chatting to a group of interns – a new book of candid photos of Michelle Obama’s White House years shows America’s former first lady in a completely different light.
As her dedicated personal photographer, Amanda Lucidon was tasked with following Michelle’s every move – so she got to see what she was really like out of the public eye. But it wasn’t just a case of point, focus and click. For Amanda one of the biggest challenges was just keeping up with the former first lady.
At 1,8m, Michelle (53) towered over the petite Amanda (38), who’s just 1,62m tall, and she was always on the move.
So for four years the photographer lived in constant anxiety about arriving too late or getting left behind and missing a career-defining shot.
Much to her relief, this never hap- pened. Day in and day out she managed to keep up with and capture Michelle’s interactions with her husband, Barack (56), their daughters, Malia (19) and Sasha (16), and a host of dignitaries and celebrities in a variety of settings from the Great Wall of China to the White House kitchen garden.
And now from the thousands of pictures she took of Michelle she’s sharing 150 shots – many of which have never been seen before – in a glossy new coffee table book, Chasing Light.
Amanda says she felt as if she’d won the lottery when she received a phone call from the White House in 2013 offering her the job, which entailed being personal photographer to one of the world’s most admired women. “I had to pinch myself.” She admits that on her first day she was a bundle of nerves but the first couple quickly put her at ease.
“President Obama and Mrs Obama are extraordinary people. They’re also kind and grounded and thoughtful. I watched how they made everyone feel comfortable and welcome. Seeing that all the time made me more comfortable too, and allowed me to see them as the people they are.”
And in her role she was able to capture unique shots of Michelle that are now captivating the world. Critics are hailing Amanda’s photos as luminous, saying she has a knack of capturing moments that many others overlook.
Out of all the pictures she took her favourite is one where Michelle snuggles up to her husband, grinning and looking head-over-heels in love. In the book she reveals that the moment, which was captured while the couple were filming a video segment, happened so suddenly and unexpectedly she had time for only a single shot. “It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to compose the image.”
Amanda says the Obamas were never camera-shy and were happy to be snapped day and night.
“We were in a trusted role,” she says. “There was never a time when we were
told not to take a photo.”
Maybe it helped that Michelle always looked stunning – whether it was in garden clothes or designer gear.
Amanda says she liked documenting the way people reacted to Michelle, although she adds there were many times when she found herself wiping away tears as she composed her shots.
“It’s an incredible experience to walk into a room full of young people. Sometimes I’d go in before the first lady would enter, feeling the energy of the room. Then I watched as the kids exploded with excitement. Sometimes it made the hair on my arms stand up. She did that in every space she moved into.”
Amanda says her time in the White House was “totally transformative”.
“I learnt from Mrs Obama to be fearless. I heard her tell young people across the country and the world to be fearless and to be unafraid to fail, because failure is a part of learning and pushing yourself to new heights. She also encouraged us to look at the challenges in our lives as our strengths and not our weaknesses, because the tough times have taught us resilience. I draw on these lessons almost every day.” SOURCES: WASHINGTONPOST.COM, READITFORWARD.COM, SIGNATURE- READS.COM, DAILYMAIL.CO.UK