White House spends $357,000, produces lame photo of Air Force One

An official with the White House resigned today over the Airforce One/New York City flyby that happened on April 27th.  They also released a photo, seen above.

The entire incident was apparently an elaborate photo op, and not a very good one, if this photo is the best example.  It cost an estimated $357,000.

Since this is a photography blog, let's discuss all the things wrong with this image:

1. The composition is terrible.  I can see how juxtaposing Airforce One in the same frame as the Statue of Liberty would seen like a good idea, but Lady Liberty is too far away to be effective, and the island is too close to the bottom of the frame.  Also, New Jersey as the background?  Really?


2. The lighting and colors are flat.  I actually added a touch of contrast to this before posting.  Doesn't anyone at the White House own photoshop?


3. The shadow at the bottom and light flare at the top are distracting.  Okay, I understand it was shot through the window of a fighter jet, but for $357,000 they should have been able to produce a more professional image!  I suspect simply shooting this at a different time of day or from a different angle would have avoided the light flare.

So overall, a pretty amateur photo, and I'm going to end this with an open invitation to the White House: the next time you plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, put a photographer inside a fighter jet, and fly over New York City... I'm available.