A dobious situation

Rarely does a picture reveal so much, yet trigger so little. We see the former president of the United States, Barack Obama, seated in «The Situation Room» within the White House. Not much else is revealed about the actual situation, except that they are looking at something to the left.

Obama's «court photographer», Pete Souza, took this image of the administration observing the deadly raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. Foreign Minister Hillary Rodham Clinton’s facial expression stands out amongst the crowd. Her hand is held in front of her mouth, a gesture possibly revealing feelings of shock or dread. She acts as the focal point within the image; a point that attracts the attention of our eyes, imbuing the image with feelings. Clinton later claimed her expression was caused by pollen allergies in her attempt at choking a sneeze. The president himself sits sunken in his seat towards the left in the image - he didn't place himself in the middle of the room, nor in the tallest chair. Fast forward to the current president and imagine where he would choose to sit. This image demonstrates Obama's collaborative capabilities.

The photographer, Pete Souza, subsequently said that the image was shoot in a very small conference room, and that «The situation room» is in fact a composite of multiple rooms. Since there were few chairs there to sit on, the staff had to stand at the back of the room and watch. The photographer stood at the other end with no way of moving. From that position he took about 100 images, but this one stood out.

If president Obama had decided to publish the images of Bin Laden’s dead body, this dubious image wouldn't have become as iconic as it is today. You get the feeling that it's presenting the truth; a form of picture evidence of what happened. But at the same time, a great deal is hidden from our view, like the document in the foreground intentionally blurred - thus encouraging the photographs’ authentic appearance.