Barack Obama's First Year in the White House

Behind the Scene
The President holds a meeting on NASA in the Oval Office in February. "I try to mesh into the scenery," says Shell. "Which is kind of hard since I'm 6 ft. tall, and there's the constant click of my camera If I can I sit on the floor or my knees waiting for a moment to happen, but also trying to stay out of the way. When I finished shooting the Clinton White House as a staff photographer, eight years ago, someone told me it looked like my knees had been hit with a sledgehammer. Its a common photographers' woe."

• The Year in Pictures 2009