The story behind Obama’s “selfie”

During the farewell of South African leader Nelson Mandela, a certain photo of three people taking a “selfie” shot with a smartphone has spiked up the internet, said people were US president Barack Obama, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt, and British Prime Minister David Cameron. And it didn’t help that US First Lady Michelle Obama looked quiet unhappy and out of the picture.

The AFP photo taken by Roberto Schmidt has made its way around news websites and social media websites followed by its consequences, where Michelle Obama seemed to have switched seats with the US president later.
Yesterday, the photographer who took the photo told the whole story on AFP blog, where photojournalists sometimes tell the readers more on the story behind the pictures they’ve taken. Schmidt has described the event as more of a celebration of Mandela’s life rather than a morbid funeral.
“It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid. The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed – I didn’t see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the US or not. We are in Africa.” Wrote Roberto Schmidt on AFP’s blog.
He added that while the First Lady might look peeved, she was in fact joking with those around her seconds earlier, and the look that was captured on her face above was done so by chance.