Bill Frist, Family Man

Frist doesn’t have any gray dogs, just black and white.
(It’s too early in the morning for psychology, this is the best I can come up with.)

Interestingly, the dog picture is the first one. The unconditional affection of the dogs is the only thing that holds the members of this family together. Are any of Frist’s sons in the military, serving in Iraq? They look the right age. Maybe they’re hiding from Michael Moore behind that fence. This family doesn’t want anyone getting too close who might find out the family secrets.

circle of life? pagan bastard… also looks cold-blooded… just wearing a dress shirt while the rest of the fam is in sweaters/ layered…
o/t: saw rosa parks’ mug shot on billmon’s site… compare/contrast w/ delay’s?

The picture of the dogs was taken from eye level. A more “compassionate” angle would involve squatting or kneeling on the ground to get a closer-to-dog-eye level picture. Getting close to one’s subject, especially if it is smaller, gives a photographer a more empathetic view. By just leaving the dogs on the ground where they belong, and towering over them with the camera, it looks to me like the photographer really doesn’t think the dogs are very important.
Did Frist take those family photos himself? I don’t think my opinion of the photos would change if he did or did not make those pictures.
People tend to lean into pictures if they are posing for a group photo. I see this all the time. People who don’t look through a camera every day don’t always know how the camera is going to see the picture. They assume you have to cram into a group photo because they think there won’t be enough space. From this post, though, I get the feeling Frist spends a lot of time in front of a camera and I’m sure he’s leaning in because he wants to be included, but does he really think the camera isn’t going to see him? Perhaps his egomania is causing him to lean, in this case, seeing as he even has a large picture of himself in his own office.
I can understand if Frist doesn’t want to drag his family around while he’s chasing the political spotlight. Politics are ugly and any time you drag somebody you care about into the matter you’re opening that person up for attack. Maybe that’s why there are so few photos of his family on his website? But, if he touts his “family values,” why wouldn’t he put up more pictures of his family? Maybe, to him, they are just not impressive. Important, yes, but hardly worth more than a couple snapshots.

Where are the cat pictures?

There actually are other photos of a family nature there. You may have missed several under the header of “hunting”. Yes, the Frist man with a recently dead elk. I still think your point is well taken, for a “family man” and a fairly (forgive me) unhumble christian, not many family pics and not one at a church event.
Whatever, it’s clearly contrived to image him in the way that some aid or intern that would be beneficial.
Hell, I would never have included those marathon pictures in there. But that’s just me.

creapy

Frist is indeed weird.
Imagine having a family portrait that is being promoted so as to glorify the man that wants to be the most powerful person in the universe. And in that family portrait the primary feature is a Fence. Second feature is the Hole in the Fence. And then the Family. But nobody in the family is touching any one else. No touchy-feely here in this Frosty Frist family. They each have little fence force-fields all around them. All kinds of weird.
The dogs? From the bare earth, it looks like these dogs have a fence too. Maybe one of those invisible electronic fences- because they don’t seem to be able to get too close to the photographer. And the dogs are way down there. No touchy-feely here either.
But, it may be that Frosty Frist is going to have a bigger problem with a fence- instead of the White House he may be headed for a stay in the Big House because of his ethics violations. One can only hope.

To Mad: I have been having technical difficulties since the site has been upgraded. Somehow today I found a back-door entrance, although I have no idea if this comment will post or if I’ll find the secret pathway back again after I post.

There is a weak element of visual punning in the shot of Frist’s human family. The circular hole in the fence and its leafy outline anticipate a common matte for photographic portraits.
Perhaps, then, this is a benchmark for analyzing the Frist wit, the threshold of funny for the Senate majority leader. Or maybe evidence the Senator is constantly probing his environment for photo opportunity.

I would expand on what Mad said about the first photo. Even animals have body language, and I think these dogs display wary obedience — their tails are lowered, not lifted in happy expectation of play; their paws are firmly planted on that barren patch of earth, the best position for running away to avoid a kick. The white older dog looks like he/she is about to bark in protest at the photographer, who must be Frist (or else why keep, let alone post, the photo?). The perspective of the shot is a perfect illustration of seeing through the all-powerful Top Dog’s eyes. There is no discernable evidence of loving human interaction with these dogs — not even a human shadow or the toe of a shoe poking into the frame. No dog toys, either. This is not the usual close-up shot of the spoiled and happy family pet you might see on a co-worker’s bulletin board; there’s something wrong, something disturbing about it.
I think the second photo is set up with a timer, Frist being the photographer again, of course. He is the one who is in a different pose from the others, as if he set up the shot, then ran to take his position before the photo snapped. His body holds more tension than the others do (straight-backed as the rest of them are), and he has the goofy grin one gets from mastery of an instruction booklet. The family is contained in that tight little circle, their legs lopped off at the knees. We are not allowed to get any closer. It too is a photo about control.
If Frist is the photographer in both (and why wouldn’t he be?), I think these photos tell as much or more about him as the photos OF him do. They are cold, emotionless images. I now see Frist as someone who can’t feel any emotions, any connection with others, but who knows he should try to fake it. Like the medical profession, “Christian conservative family values” is a great place to hide such a secret about oneself because it provides all the rules for you and comes with a built-in appearance of compassion.