Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Newest Picture Worth a 1,000 Words

Every now and then an image comes along that perfectly captures a moment, tells a story and brands a character forever. The photo above, snapped by Chris Berry, is a perfect example.

Here we have a character dressed in a nice suit fit for a funeral that's accessorized to the brim with hat, scarf and sunglasses. He's exiting a public building familiar to many of the taxpayers of his community. Slowly moving from the building, he's alone and expressionless. His pockets are full with hidden hands. The horizontal lines in the architecture almost complete the story as they provide the symbol for the prison jumpsuits singed in our minds from movies and cartoons of the past.

Enter the vertical bars. The bars complete the story. I don't know if Mr. Berry saw this coming as he waited for his subject to exit, but either way he was in a primo spot for his dramatic shot.

It's unfortunate that the photo even had to be taken and that I'm typing this post in the first place. Notwithstanding all that, this is one of the rare pictures that tells a story and will stay with (brand) a character for a long time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very well written