Setting aside what the caption tells me about this picture, the first thing that I noticed after reading chapter 6 is that the entire family in focus is not making any kind of eye contact with the camera at all. While there are many people in this photo, the two women, man, and young boy hugging are definitely the main focus due to the fact that everything surrounding this family is blurred out. While we have no real way of knowing if the family was aware that they were being photographed, it seems, from the lack of eye contact and raw emotional looks on their faces, as if they had no idea they were being photographed at the time. Even without the knowledge of the miner’s deaths we could gather from this photograph that the family is obviously mourning a loss of someone very close. The candles and surrounding people are a huge factor, however, if carefully observed we also see that the family is wearing the same jean jumpsuit that appears that it would only be worn in a ‘dirty’ job kind of scenario; such as mining. The little boy in the photo is also very significant, if not the most important detail, because he is wearing a miners hat, most likely his fathers, in addition to the worn jean jumpsuit. Not only are the clothes and lit candles significant, they stand out even more due to the background being that of a darkening sky outside that shows the dedication of the people to the ones they are mourning and also sets a sort of ominous mood or tone to the picture itself. We often see photos like this one when there is any sort of great tragedy where lives are lost. The media shows us a picture of people mourning their friends, family, and loved ones most likely in hopes of bringing out the pathos in all of us and connecting us with the story they are trying to present. However, there are definitely details that seem to catch my attention as out of the ordinary in this photo. While it makes sense for one family to be in focus, which eliminates an overwhelming amount of people to focus on otherwise, the people who are blurred behind the family seem to be calmer and more emotionally stable than the family in focus. This makes one wonder if the reason that this particular family was picked was not only to get the story out but to exploit the family’s emotional reactions in such a way to attract more viewers, and in turn, increase consumer attention. While this may be a stretch, the media’s intentions for printing photographs such as this one should be and is definitely worth looking at. (460)
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