Debatable

Sign o' the times: Hillary Clinton making an appearance before a crowd. The picture was posted to Twitter yesterday by Hillary For
America Design Lead Victor Ng.

The Presidential debates begin tonight in the U.S., and I imagine it will be one more of those occasions when I will be either sad or glad that I don't have a television. For those of you who are interested onlookers from other countries, this backgrounder article at The Atlantic is long but good. It's by James Fallows, who for many years has been a consistently interesting writer about politics and culture here. (Just passing along the link. No political comments if you don't mind. But how 'bout that photo?!?)

Mike
(Thanks to Jeffrey Schimberg)

CORRECTION: The photo above is by Barbara Kinney (left). Sorry about repeating the mis-attribution, although you'll notice that my caption as written isn't incorrect. Here's another nice selfie-related shot by Barbara. Thanks to David A and Manuel for the correction. —Ed.

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

David Dyer-Bennet: "That photo is priceless! Actually took me a moment to figure out what was going on."

Matt: "This is an excellent example of how photos can be deceptive even without any sort of manipulation. The important context that's missing from most of the (predictable) discussion about the image is that the picture was taken immediately after HRC said 'everyone take a selfie,' after one audience member asked her if it would be OK."

Mike replies: Thanks Matt! That actually makes it even more interesting as a cultural comment...as I always say, most photographs need captions, meaning, context.

Comments

[KeithB]

This picture reminds me of the video that went around after Robin William's death. He was performing at an air force base when all of a sudden all the airmen turned their backs to Williams because of retreat. He riffed for a bit on how surreal it was to suddenly see your whole audience turn away.

[Winwalloe]

In september 2016, the world discovers that people take selfies. For the millionth time.

[Michael]

I think this photo is a fascinating look at how the "selfie" culture has completely changed our social dynamics.

[wts]

Taking selfies showing both yourself & famous person wouldn't be so disrespectful of the famous person if the selfie phone would have a selfie mode that utilized both front and rear cameras simultaneously. Furthermore, you could actually see the famous person in real life rather than via a screen.

[Dennis]

I love that photo ! Just when I thought the picture-of-someone-taking-a-selfie was too cliche to be interesting ...

[Frank]

An age of selfie. A moment of (photography) history. ^_^

[David A]

Mike, the picture is by Barbara Kinney (http://www.barbarakinney.com) a photographer with a very close working relationship with the Clinton family owing to her time as a White House staff photographer and the foundation.

[Ray H.]

Fallows is from another country??

[Fallows is American, born 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Just Google the name when you have questions like that. All the information comes right up. --Mike]

[Dave Van de Mark]

Mike,
I, too, do not have the TV part of cable - only the internet. But I bought Apple TV and now can watch several sources which will air the debates. Using my 27" high end photo monitor, I have a nifty computer TV system, which I use sparingly. Yeah, the useful channels are limited, but that in turn keeps my attention directed to more truly meaningful endeavors rather than squandering my life to television!

[Roger Bradbury]

Clinton and Trump just seemed rather too close for comfort in the photo at the link, for two people who are probably not the best of friends. Perhaps I feel like this because in our House of Commons MPs are traditional kept two sword's lengths apart. This caused me to look more closely.

The difficulty of lighting both subjects that way at the same time apart, I looked for evidence. There's a dark line on the backs of both their jackets, and a few other artifacts in the photo. There's what looks like a cloning error on the back of Hilary's jacket, and possibly other signs in the same area.

I've got a big monitor and I'm very short sighted so I can look very closely; at normal distance these clues are barely visible if you know what to look for. I expect that whoever made this picture wasn't given much time in which to do it and they've done well. The main points are covered. The composition is good.

This could have easily been done as a cartoon but as a photograph it has far more impact.

[Manuel]

I think this picture says everything about the kind of silliness that took over since digital photography became available to the masses.
And it's not just about photography. Anyone who passed by a crowd of Pokémon Go players can see how deranged people have become thanks to smartphones.
By now someone will be saying I'm a bitter and narrow-minded man, but please look at the photo again: in case someone didn't grasp it, those people with their backs turned to Hillary Clinton are taking selfies with the candidate as a background! How pathetic is that?
By the way, the picture was taken by Barbara Kinney, who, according to her Twitter profile, is "currently fulltime photographer on the Hillary Clinton campaign", having been "Clinton White House photog." I should say it's a brilliant photo, even though it portrays a rather sad spectacle.

[David Raboin]

You don't need a TV to watch. Several outlets are live-streaming it for free. I have my fingers crossed that Hillary locks it up tonight. I can't take all this Trump anxiety.

[Richard Ripley]

Hi Mike:
No TV, no problem! You can stream the debate on iPhone, iPad, etc. I suppose the success of your streaming will depend on your Internet connections bandwidth. Have fun, I think?!?

[Richard Ripley]

HI Mike:

Following up on my previous post, here's a link with more information about streaming the debate:

https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/stream-clinton-trump-presidential-debate/?utm_source=macobserver&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_everything

[Gaspar Heurtley]

They're taking selfies, so it makes sense that people are turning their backs at her.

What I don't get (or like, for that matter) is that HC stands so far away from the people. Politics is about people, or should be anyway.

[Richard Parkin]

This would be a great photo if only Hillary had her back to crowd and was also taking a selfie - she must have been tempted.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Yeah, it's pathetic that the whole crowd gets a shot of themselves with Hillary, instead of just the VIPs on the platform (the VIP shots then end up framed on the wall in their office). Sure thing.

[Chuck Albertson]

More breaking news: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/more-americans-expected-to-self-medicate-than-for-any-other-debate-in-history?intcid=mod-latest

[Kenneth Tanaka]

I'm usually bored by photographs that purport to "tell a story". (Don't get me started on that.) I'm most enchanted by photographs featuring ambiguity and incongruity. This one has it in spades!! Wow. Well done Ms. Kinney! (And thank you, Jeffrey and Mike.)

[JF]

I guess I'm old. I looked at the picture and wondered what the heck was going on with all the people facing the other way. I figured it out on my own after a few seconds. Duh..

[Charles Lanteigne]

Here's an article about what featured commenter Matt said.

[Fotorr]

Grow tired of your constant selling. goodby.

[Del Bomberger]

OK, now I wish I didn't have a TV.

[Mani Sitaraman]

It wouldn't have been as good a picture if the photographer, Barbara Kinney, had attempted to take a selfie of the scene...

[bandbox]

I can't get excited about the photograph. To me, it just looks like another scripted moment in the life of a politician, right down to the smile and wave and the box she's standing on.

[Dave New]

I sat down with a bag of microwave popcorn to watch the debate, and it struck my grandson funny. I guess he figures that the popcorn normally only comes out for great entertainment. He'll eventually get it.