Photos capture people behind the president

Whoever the president may be, he says, the “presidential persona and his message are created, manipulated and disseminated by local and national news media, the White House administration and staff . . . aides, interns and the president’s constituency.”

It’s those people Chris Usher photographed for “Behind the Velvet Rope,” his exhibit that’s currently running at the Southeast Museum of Photography. Usher will lecture at the museum at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Via an e-mail interview last week, Usher spoke on media manipulation and the difficulty of being “invisible” as he pursues his work.

Check it out here.