Institutional weight

More great photography from the New York Times website.  I commented earlier about the aesthetic quality of their photography, and was struck again by this photo.  I see lots of inauguration photos, reading news articles through my job, and most of them are pretty standard: man standing with judge, smiling wife in background, kids looking surly and awkward adolescents, or smiling, thin necks sticking through dress shirts a bit too large for them, tie inexpertly tied.

This shot was different, again probably because of the wide format the NYT uses, but there was this whole cinematic quality to the shot, first off, by not seeing their faces, and by framing them against the superstructure of government, expressed in the government building, provides this lyrical structure so much more compelling then your typical shots.

The canted stairs, angling diagonally through the photo, establish this dynamic energy, an agression echoed by the bright red coat against the grays and blacks.  It creates this overall effect of isolation around the couple, and this sense of encounter, the symbolism of beginning their new term expressed in the ceremony of their climbing the steps together, and the departing Governor waiting at the top.  Really nice.

I like the low camera angle, and the decision to have only a fragment of sky visible, gives a sense of the enormity of government, of this huge political machine preparing to swallow the Governor-elect, like a man heading into a lions den, or a colliseum, he is properly dwarfed by the scale of what he is attempting.

But here again the color of the coat stands as a tension against that, this bright picture of individuality, personal energy contrasted against the institutional pressure reflected in both the ceremony itself and the building structure.  The bright red, like a beating heart, like the girl’s red coat in Schindler’s List, gives this picture of personality surviving, carrying itself into this rigid, august, dominating space.  The coat makes the figures stand out as bright, distinct.

Lastly, the width of the stairwell.  This is not a private space, this is not a quiet back stairwell leading into the capital, this is a massive stairwell, fit for hundreds of people, and a proper representation of the number of people represented in the institution of state government.  Here, the sense of isolation surrounding the couple is fitting, as they are about to become two people representing many, the two individuals that will speak for the hundreds and thousands of people who could come to that stairwell, looking for representation and consideration within government.  It reminds me of coronation, the weight of office, the one representing the many, and the way that the majesty of the building represents not his greatness, but the greatness of the people, while he at the same time takes on a greatness for being the representative of so many.

What do you think?  Do you see it too?