Body Language

Sometimes truth is elusive.

Last evening was hectic. In a span of one-and-a-half hours, I drove to three locations in Cincinnati, Ohio. At each place I photographed voters watching a televised presidential debate between President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney.

During the wee hours I edited images and uploaded them to news outlets.

On the following day, up and down the radio dial, commentators remarked how disengaged President Obama had appeared. Some people objected to him facing downward too often when not speaking.

While listening this these discussions, I decided to review my images from the previous evening. Did I have photos of Obama looking down?

Turns out I did. The photo above is one of them.

During a normal edit, I don't select unflattering photos such as people blinking, touching their noses, yawning, revealing odd expressions, and yes, looking down. But during this second round of editing, Obama's demeanor had become a topic of news. This photo, a juxtaposition of Romney looking animated and Obama looking disinterested, could illustrate that topic.

I ran the image through Photoshop and prepared to uploaded it.

Then I paused. An ethical question arose. Did the photo capture a moment when Obama was deliberately looking down? Or did the image reveal a fleeting moment of irrelevance?

I could not answer that question. The photo was not uploaded.

Well, not for a while. Later I visited the website of a news organization. They were running a slideshow of photos depicting the president's lackluster demeanor from the debate. One of the photos was nearly identical to mine. It might have been the same moment captured. A photographer in the debate hall had snapped the photo.

I changed my mind. The moment did indeed capture a truth. The image got uploaded.