Barack Obama's campaign team have posted a series of intimate pictures from election night on his Flickr page, where he and his family can be seen, tensely watching television from a hotel room as the results gradually come in.
For a man known for his deep-seated calmness, the beautiful behind the scenes images, taken by his official campaign photographer, David Katz, show the anxious moments before the results are declared.
Obama sits in the corner of couch, next to wife Michelle, and at times holding the hand of his mother in law, while taking phone calls from supporters until the moment the television networks announce he has been elected 44th President of the United States.
His elder daughter Malia, offers him a fist bump in congratulations, and he is shown having a quiet word with his vice president-elect Joe Biden, and sitting in comtemplation watching John McCain make his concession speech, before the family prepare to walk up on stage to stand before 125,000 people in Grant Park Chicago for his victory speech. And their lives changed forever.
