After the last post, I was curious to see what the publicity team of the McCain/Palin team had done for their official photograph:
The first aspect of this photograph that jumped up at me was the height of its two subjects: here, Palin is seen to be the exact same height as McCain, going so far as to painfully position her shoulders above his to make this equal height possible. Since the campaign is banking on feminist voters, displaying Palin as the exact height of McCain is important, showing that they have equal power and that she is not beneath him in any way, not even horizontally.
The second noticeable aspect is the lighting. Clearly McCain and Palin did not come together for a photoshoot to make this publicity possible. The light angles come from different sides of their faces, shadowing their adjacent sides. I noticed the same thing in the Obama/Biden photo, which strikes me as slightly odd. A more interesting note on the lighting is the intensity of the light: in the above photograph, clearly Palin is much more vibrant than the subdued and rosy McCain. The lighting is brighter on Palin, and the viewer’s attention is much more attracted to her face than McCain’s. This is also true with color. The contrast on McCain’s skin tones is softer, more subdued than that of Palin’s. In addition, the clothes McCain wears are less striking–the suit’s blacks are not as black as they could have been, and his tie choice is a light and passable tone–in contract to the vibrant red of Palin’s shirt.
I’m also intrigued by the choice of background image. In the above photo, we have two patriotic symbols, as if the Republican Party seems desperate to push the notion that their candidates are the true supporters of America.
In addition, in the above photograph and throughout the last few months, I’ve noticed that Palin is never seen without her glasses. Regardless of her prescription needs, I feel here they are used to impress a sense of her as an intellectual. This is reminiscent of Barthe’s description of the psychological effects of the full face photograph (of which this is): “A full-face photograph underlines the realistic outlook of the candidate, especially if he is provided with scrutinizing glasses. Everything there expresses penetration, gravity, frankness: the future deputy is looking squarely at the enemy, the obstacle, the ‘problem.’ “
