The Power of Context
Take a look at this portrait by Timothy Archibald and imagine what sort of man this is. What is the photographer saying about him? What is he trying to say about himself? What does he do for a living? Why is he holding that gun?
I took a look at the image as I leafed through that magazine and thought, "that is a guy who looks ill at ease in a suit." I'm not fashion expert but you don't see the double-breasted pinstripe so much anymore, particularly on someone holding a gun that big (at least not since Prohibition.) But he does look like he's probably a gun enthusiast under that get-up and I could easily imagine him behind a vendor table at a gun show hocking used shotguns. This set up struck me as a bit silly and I wondered how he was convinced to get dressed like that and hold the pistol so gingerly.
I showed the picture to my wife, Kim. I asked her what she thought of the man without telling her who he was. I figured she'd have the same reaction. Surprisingly she said he looked like a man who "wasn't very comfortable holding a gun."
The subject is Michael Golden, the CEO of gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson and this portrait was commissioned by Business Week for an article about fast growing small companies. I read that in the caption when I first encountered the image and my unconscious impressions of the company clearly colored my reading of the image. Turns out Golden was hired from Black and Decker and didn't actually know much, or anything, about guns when he took the job. Reading the accompanying article I found he's a marketing guy and focused on licensing and product extensions, not necessarily gun manufacturing.
I blurred the caption on the image on purpose so as not to bias your impression. What do you think you're reaction would have been had you known he was the CEO of S&W? This recalled a recent post on Amy Stein's blog about reactions to her series "Women and Guns" and whether the work is pro- or anti-gun. Seems it all depends on what you, the viewer, bring to the table. Or, does it? Based on my wife's context-free reaction, Timothy Archibald did an amazing job of reflecting Golden's underlying nature as someone not necessarily comfortable holding a revolver but certainly at home in double-breasted pinstripes.
