Assignment 4 - Ella Franklin

I'm drawn to pictures that show human emotion. Sure, it's not a picture of a wounded refugee or children crying on the border of a country. But is it any less important because of it?

When you see a truly good picture, you should be able to place yourself in the photographer's shoes - right there, to that place, to that time.

This picture makes me feel like I'm just watching good ol' Bill and Al joke around at a campaign stop. If I turned on the radio, Boys II Men would be playing. If I turned on the TV, Seinfeld would be on (or Friends, I guess, if that's what you prefer). You get the picture.

I'm drawn to this picture because somehow is both incredibly candid and incredibly posed. This picture shows an incredibly, incredibly raw human emotion, one sometimes difficult to perceive in real life - insincerity. Hillary Clinton sitting on someone's lap? I don't believe it for a second. Bill looks like he's really forcing a fake laugh. He's not as good at it as Hillary. Al and Tipper are probably genuinely laughing, in my opinion. They always seem genuinely happy. But, then again, they got divorced. In this picture, I see a couple who really want the American people to elect them, and a couple who are just along for the ride.

Also, what's so funny? Did Bill say it? Is Al funny? Maybe he said it? I wouldn't even consider Hillary or Tipper said it. Their role in this photograph is not to be the ones telling the joke, it's to be the ones laughing. But, at this time, that was the role of the first lady. And, once Bill took office, Hillary was no longer the woman who laughs in her husband's lap. She was the woman who stands equally poised next to her husband, sitting without the support of her husband's leg. And the photograph makes you see that. The photograph takes you to this scene, as only a good photograph could.