Civil War Photo

In this photo, titled "The four condemned conspirators (Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Herold, Atzerodt) with officers and others on the scaffold- Washington, D.C., July 7, 1865," The content is what really made the photo stand out among the others. The photo is composed of the 4 individuals who conspired against Abraham Lincoln in regards to his assassination; the 4 conspirers are hanging to their death. The action in the photo is startling at first for the viewer because of the depiction of death, paired with the fact that the photo is a documentary piece of art.  Another thing that makes this photo eerie is the intention of the photo, the photo is made solely to depict the death of these individuals who were found to have helped in the assassination of Lincoln, not even the perpetrators. The visual compositional elements help to add to this photo's purpose; Even though the photo is black and white, it's apparent that this is no sunny day, adding to the tone. This photo shows that these people are being severely punished through the exploitation of their death; their deaths are being observed by many, as well as documented through film. In relation to this photo, Lincoln, the man who died because of these individuals, is being exploited to this day. The article "Lincoln's Cottage to Open to Public" (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/travel/06COMlinc.html?scp=10&sq=lincoln+assassination&st=nyt) explains that this year, Lincoln's Cottage that he lived in up until his assassination is going to be opened for the public to gander through. This is a nice relation to the photo because it shows that both ends of the spectrum are exploited, the media doesn't discriminate against the good or the bad people in our world, everyone is fair game for exploitation.