Arun Chaudhary on life as White House videographer

A fair case can be made that, like Orson Welles, film-maker Arun Chaudhary peaked early.

While still in his early 30s Chaudhary became the first official US presidential videographer, following Barack Obama around the White House and around the world with a small digital camera.

Now retired to a Washington political firm, Chaudhary has chronicled his years with Obama in a new book: First Cameraman.

The president's life occurs not merely in the corridors of power and in glamorous world capitals, but in countless hotel kitchens, grey concrete backstages, and freight elevators, Chaudhary says, revelling in "the mundane aspects" of the presidential life he shared.

"It's ordinary things that become surreal through the lens of the White House."

Video footage courtesy of The White House.

Produced by the BBC's Franz Strasser and Daniel Nasaw.

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