Visual Insights: Obama Photo: Entering Bullet Proof Prez Limo, 5 March 2013

Visual Insights: Obama Photo: Entering Bullet Proof Prez Limo, 5 March 2013: From Denny:  The life of a president is a world so far removed from the average citizen that sometimes the only way to understand it is through the White House photos.  This White House is more accomplished at releasing candid photos of the people in government as they go about the country's business than was the Bush White House.

The Bush era was forever about manipulating public opinion to the extreme they attempted to create one too many fairy tales for posterity - and it backfired.  While every White House likes to promote their brand, as does the Obama White House, this one is more on balance delivering the mundane moments to the public as well as the promotional.  Official White House photographer Pete Souza does an outstanding job capturing a constantly moving target in a myriad of situations from the campaign trail to the Oval Office meetings.

This one was taken today of President Obama as he arrived at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.  He was visiting service members to award two purple hearts.  Notice the narrow field of view composition to emotionally connect the viewer to the narrow emotional and physical spaces in which a president moves through their day.  Click on the link above to view.

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First Lady Betty Ford: Remembered Dancing On White House Table

From Denny: Betty Ford. What a lady. She hails from a time when people didn't hate each other in politics; they only disagreed. She was a great lady of humble attitude, practical in how she approached life and graceful in how she danced through life - no matter the obstacles.

Betty Ford was best known for her pioneering candor of bringing cancer out of the creeping shadows and on to the national stage. Back then absolutely no one talked about a cancer diagnosis because so often it was considered a death notice. She spoke about it publicly when it was also a social norm that doing so was in bad form.

Yet, it was her stalwart candidness that won her the support of women on both sides of the political aisle. Women started going in droves to their doctors to get breast cancer check-ups. Women picked up her call to actively address their own health issues rather than waiting to get patted on the head by a patronizing doctor to whom they would obediently acquiesce.

Betty Ford saw to it that the times were definitely changing if she had anything to do with it. My favorite photo of her was this one taken where she expressed to the White House photographer how she always wanted to dance on the table in the White House cabinet room. It's that same table where all the men of the Good Ol' Boys Network elbowed out women in the national leadership.