Pity. I, of course, added all of the right two thirds of the image... filling it in with the subtle implication of American patriotic colors in shadowy pastels to imply that idea as a background melody that supported the main theme... and of course I deliberately aged it to reinforce the quaint, and perhaps outdated, nature that patriotism has assumed (rightly or wrongly) in the minds of most Americans today.
But it was the furtive glance of this aged leader, framed at if through his nearby by lieutenant's head and shoulder that was indeed meant to be a 'stolen' probing... a revelation of an expression that was not meant to be public. An expression of concern? Worry? Fear? Apprehension? At what? Something across that divide of whatever was hidden in that aging murk of patriotic motivation which reinforced the essential red/white/blue palette that's the background support for everything here?
It's a photojournalistic report... not of the 'facts' of that demonstration, but of its feelings... Think of it as reporting done entirely in the quotes of participants, rather than the narrative of the reporter.
A patron commissioned me to gather these images into two groups that he might matte and frame as squares (printed roughly 20 inches on a side) for his office. Squares that reported the feelings wafting from what he considers a footnote to history.
Odd, I haven't seen many people working to combine a series of images taken at an event that in toto attempt to reveal the event's feelings as opposed to reporting on its details. I wonder why? Yeah, it's subjective, but what photographic reporting isn't? This type of presentation simply make the subjectivity obvious.
-and-
