WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (NBC NEWS) – Lisa Jack probably could have demanded a decent price for the set of photos she took of an Occidental College freshman in 1980.

“I’m sure Hillary would have paid a fortune for them: ‘Is this who you want picking up the phone at 3 a.m.?’” the photographer told the L.A. Times. “I could have made a boatload of money, probably, but I wanted to do it right.”

But Jack kept the priceless pics under lock and key until after the November election.

The photos are of then-Occidental student Barack Obama. They are featured in a new exhibit at M+B Gallery in Los Angeles.

Obama attended Occidental College from fall 1979 through spring 1981. The future president then transferred to Columbia University in New York.

Jack told The Times she crossed paths with the future president at a campus snack shop. The meeting led to a photo shoot in the living room of her Eagle Rock apartment, according to the Times.

   [ More Pictures ] [ The Barack Obama Photo Album ]

The photos, including Obama smoking a cigarette while wearing a Panama hat, first appeared in Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” issue. The M+B Gallery exhibit includes 21 of Jack’s 36 photos.

Jack told the Times she found the negatives in her Minneapolis home early last year. She kept the photos secret until after Obama was elected president.

Jack, now a professional psychologist, put the negatives in a safety deposit box until after the election.

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