An exhibition of candid photography has just opened at Los Angeles gallery M+B; capturing the college days of one of the most famous people in the world.

'Barack Obama: The Freshman', is a series of black and white photographs by Lisa Jack and on show until July 18th.

First featured in Time Magazine’s 2008 “Person of the Year” issue, these photographs offer a window back in time before the posters and before the campaign, when a 20-year-old young man was caught up in just such a change that Time Magazine would later describe.

Lisa Jack, then a student of photography at Occidental College, sought a striking subject for a portrait project and was tipped off about a charismatic freshman named “Barry” Obama who would make an ideal subject. After the shoot, these images would remain locked away for the next 28 years, until a dare from a friend triggered Lisa Jack to seek them out.

At first worried these images could be used against President Obama, Jack realised they were not incriminating of anything other than being young and self-conscious, and that they offered a unique glimpse into how the man who made history went from being “Barry” to Barack.

This exhibition marks the first time these rare photographs have ever been printed and on display. As described in his memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama’s time at “Oxy” (Occidental College) was one of confusion and self-searching. He was chided by his mother for being friends with someone who was arrested on a drug possession charge, having so-so grades and, worst of all, being undeclared.

Having recently moved from his grandparents’ home in Honolulu, he searched for his place in his new environment and eventually translated a situation of uncertainty into opportunity. These images from 1980 offer a view of that young man grappling with issues that would shape him to become the 44th President of the United States.

Lisa Jack ceased photographing and went on to pursue psychology and is currently a professor of Counseling Psychology at Augsburg College. After having her one roll of film from that day sit neglected for almost thirty years, Jack now offers up these images “...so that others may see a side to him [she has] yet to observe captured in the maelstrom of contemporary media”.