Symbol of the Economy

The photo I have posted is of a man in his 30's. He has short dark hair, a short beard and mustache, and he is wearing a block long sleeved shirt with no collar. The picture is in black and white and shows the man from his shoulders up. His hair comes down in a widows peak and his eyes and mouth are squeezed shut as if he expecting something painful to happen. He is positioned off center to the right in the frame and he is holding up his right hand in which he is holding a camera with a big zoom lens. The lens is pointed towards his temple and his thumb is positioned on the trigger. In the bottom of the picture there is a text saying "How To Survive a Down Economy As A Photographer".

When I look at this picture I get the sense that this man is at the end of his rope and is about to stage a suicide. But since a camera is being used instead of a gun the message is not that grim. Instead it in a humorous way is trying to make light of the fact that there is no way to overcome the bad economy, which at first makes me laugh. However, the economy is no laughing matter, but sometimes that is all one can do, otherwise one would go insane. So although the photo is trying to be funny, it also makes me think about the hardships many people face in tough times, and the ways they cope with these struggles. Even though my first reaction is to smile at the photo, I also feel empathy with the person in the picture.

• The text that reads "How To Survive a Down Economy As A Photographer" is a symbol for the meaning of those words, namely denoting: This is a guide for how someone who works in photography can sustain himself when the financial situation is bad. The way these words interact with the photograph also creates a sense of irony or sarcasm, since the subject in the picture supposedly is trying to kill himself with his camera.
• The way the person is holding the camera to his temple symbolizes the action of suicide by shooting a gun to the head. This gesture has become universal for suicide as people might mimic this by putting a finger to the temple to symbolize a gun, but in this case the finger has been replaced by the camera lens.

The absence of color gives the photo a more serious attribute, resembling a picture in a newspaper or a documentary. This denotes the severity of the actions taken by the man in the picture. The absence of color also denotes that there is little to feel good about in the situation, as color is generally used to describe happy occasions. Aside from that, there is also the use of the close up in a landscape oriented photo which places the man two thirds of the way to the right in the frame. With the addition of the hand and camera in the left part of the frame, the photo finds balance between these two elements. The camera is also pointing straight to the man's head, making your eyes travel to the expression on his face. As the eyes keep scanning the photo they go from the face to the camera and then end up at the negative text in the lower right hand corner. This aspect of the composition further enhances the impressions described above.