This picture is a ballet. I get as choked up posting it here today as I did posting it when it first appeared on our FB page almost five years ago. It’s a timeless photographic tour de force.
Today is Veteran’s Day. My WWII veteran father was alway proud of this day and often participated at school and other public events when it came around.
Today, as I’m thinking of veterans, my mind flashes to various photos of service men and women that have been shared on our Facebook page over the years by our fans… shared by those whose families make the sacrifice of their loved one’s time, devotion, service, absence, and sometimes, lives. We remember and thank them all.
I IMMEDIATELY KNEW THIS WAS SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY when I saw Kassi’s photo posted on our facebook page five years ago. I didn’t want to distract from the photograph with words then, so I waited a few days—during which I looked at this picture many times and marveled at it—then I wrote this blog post to share my thoughts about the visual reasons this picture is so successful. Honestly, this may be the best photograph we’ve ever published and that’s saying a lot.
1. IT’S A PRIVATE MOMENT TREATED LIKE A PRIVATE MOMENT
A man is meeting his daughter; we’ve been allowed to enter a sacred space and yet we don’t feel like we’re being disrespectful or invasive. How did the photographer do that? We’re looking at the heart of the photo—the kiss—through a very small space between mom and the boy. We can’t actually see the kiss because of the angle. We know that mom and the son are able to see it and we are left to imagine what they’re seeing. And, significantly, two people have their backs to the camera and we can’t see much of the other two. That’s normally a recipe for failure and not perfection. We’re not in the inner-sanctum, but we’re close enough.
2. THE BACKGROUND IS SIMPLE
The family is in a patch of shade while the background appears to be in bright sunshine. The resulting over-exposed background is not only NOT a distraction, it’s a way to put clean edges all around the family—very important.
3. THEIR CLOTHES ARE RIGHT
I could think of a hundred ways this picture could be damaged by the wrong clothes. If mom had been wearing a white top, there would be separation issues with the background. As it is, her black top and dark hair work perfectly together solidifying her as one single graphic element. And I almost don’t need to mention the emotional power of the boy’s pants and dad’s jacket tying the two of them together as one.The boy isn’t even wearing a shirt. We can imagine what dad felt when he first hugged the boy, when he touched that sweet skin he had thought about so many times in the past months. This would not be the same photograph if the boy were wearing a Sponge Bob t-shirt.
4. EVERYONE’S BODY LANGUAGE IS PERFECT
The boy’s arm around the dad, the dad’s arm around the boy’s bottom, the way mom is holding back a bit; simply absorbing this moment she has fantasized about. And the way the baby’s head is tilted back in an infant baby obliviousness. She will not remember the moment, but she will always have the photograph.
5. LITTLE THINGS ALL CAME TOGETHER
There are some spatial things going on here you could chalk up to luck or serendipity or simply a blessing from the photo gods, but there they are and they are all significant. That space between mom and dad’s head is so important. If their heads were dinging up against each other there would be some distracting visual tension. The same goes for the space between the boy’s bare shoulder and the dad’s ear and the space between the boy’s arm and the baby’s nose and mouth. Even the way the boy’s ear on the left is separated from dad’s shoulder supports the clear message we all feel when we look at this picture. All of these are subtle little elements and yet they have aligned to hold the image together like some kind of visual glue.
6. THE LIGHT IS RIGHT
Look at the light on the dad’s face. It’s just enough to bring your eyes in immediately. Those highlights are ONLY on his face. It’s almost heavenly —amazing.
7. THE CROP IS RIGHT
The tops of the heads of the mom and son are not in the picture. The top of the dad’s head is—just one more way we are drawn into the moment.
8. THE BABY’S FOOT IS PRICELESS
And as if the baby’s presence needs to be reinforced, mom’s hand on the baby’s leg and foot let us know just how precious and vulnerable this little girl is. And it’s such a nice little visual treat to find that foot.
When hundreds of people go to the trouble to comment on a photograph posted on Facebook you know you are looking at something important.
