Photo Analysis - Obama

Caption: President Obama meets with National Incident Commander US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen for a briefing on the BP oil spill at Coast Guard Station Gulfport in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Monday.

This image of Obama during the BP oil spill gives me the most confidence in his leadership abilities because of the basic assumptions based upon connotation and denotation. 

Observations
President Obama's posture is attentive and responsive. His hands are being used as he's talking, but they are not tense. His hands are not clenched but yet active. His head is tilted towards his audience. His face is calm yet concerned. His eyes are direct but relaxed. His mouth shows that he is responding. The shot is far enough away to include the surroundings but not close enough to make me wonder what parts of the picture I am missing. There are maps and a flag on the wall behind him all pertaining to the topic of discussion. Clothing colors are in the blue family. Obama is obviously depicted and he is African American, middle-aged man, but to his left is a Caucasian male who seems to be slightly older than Obama. This Coast Guard Admiral is listening to Obama very attentively. The camera is angled straight at eye level, but it cuts off at the table which is also waist level.

Meaning
I believe that this photograph is spontaneous. The message behind the photograph seems to be that Obama is talking about the issues at hand in a calm yet concerned manner. Questions this photo raises: What are they talking about? The caption of this picture gives a tremendous amount of detail. If I were to write a new one then not as much clearly presented information would be given. 

This image makes me more confident in the President's leadership abilities because he is presenting himself well. He comes across very genuine, real, calm, cool, and collected in this photograph.