Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/10/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tina: Pardon the pun, but this photo is loaded. I hope the gun isn't. And even if it isn't, anyone who knows anything about firearms safety would know that you *never* hand someone a gun by pointing it at them! What I find most chilling about the photo is the casualness of it. The MM's tonality makes it too beautiful, which also creeps me out. Also, you have light hair in the background and the dark arms and darker pistol, which to me creates a little "subliminable" editorializing. :-) As does the woman's single eye at the left (which also compositionally balances the single spectacle lens at right). And then you've got the jar of homemade jam on the table just under the gun. And also, the gun looks like something that a female spy might use, or the femme fatale in a detective story. Now, OTOH, I've lived in Kentucky and Eastern Washington, and spent time in rural Idaho and Montana. I've known people who would find this a very ordinary scene. Or maybe even touching--the man got a purse-totable pistol suitable for the little woman, good for "protection." Or maybe one of them is a dedicated collector who likes fine mechanical pistols the way we like fine mechanical Leicas. I remember the all-over-the-map reactions to Kyles "Armed America" book. I suspect you'll get a microcosm of that with this photo. All in all, a picture full of very rich juxtaposition of hot-button archetypes, and they're going to mean very different things to different people. I'd be very curious if you'll show this to your relatives, how they react if you do. --Peter > Family reunion of Tea-Party members in Alabama: > > http://www.pbase.com/image/152934358 > > C&C greatly appreciated. > > Tina