President Obama

This photo is iconic because it is not commonplace for a president to acknowledge his staff that does not directly communicate with him. I believe that this photo is an exemplar of the power of photography. Obama went out of his way to express his gratitude to a janitorial staff. If this were not documented as a photograph, a moment in which Obama's true kindness showed through, would not be seen by the world. If moments like this were not documented, Obama's reputation would be based on less little moments like this. Obama could have been seen as less kind and more inhumane if these moments were not documented. This could have shaped his entire presidency. If he has been less likable, he may not have gotten voted in for a second term. In his second term he did important things such as orchestrating the military operation that ended up being the reason that Osama Bin Laden was killed, and signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order that would limit carbon emissions.

Susan Sontag claimed that the context of a photo was very important. In this case, the context of this photo is that Obama is in the White House, as president, sharing gratitude for a worker doing an essential job that tends to go unrecognized. If this were Obama after his presidency in Hawaii, no one would really care. Because of his status, Americans eyes were on him at the time that this happened. That makes this photo more significant. This photo was most widely seen on the internet, which means it reached a large group of people. This gave fans of Obama the chance to boost this photo and get it even farther than it would be seen if it were just in a magazine or newspaper.