This is one of those pictures the universe offers if you are open to it. I was sitting on the subway when this person sat across from me. This picture was taken right after the 2024 presidential election. All of the elements come together to speak volumes. Even the frayed American flag adds to the feeling. I added some saturation to accentuate the mood of the picture.
Good emotional impact.
Regardless of what this situation makes you feel, the photo itself doesn't communicate much in the grand scheme of things because of how poorly it was shot.
For example, the composition is way off. Your subject is a little more than halfway towards the bottom of the frame. This leaves a bunch of empty space above him that doesn't add to the photo in any way.
On top of that, the useless space has a sign on it that's lit brighter than the subject. The viewer's eyes are immediately drawn to it because the white lettering has the highest contrast.
Next comes your focal point, which appears to be the flag. Your main subject is out of focus, so he gets a bit lost in the rest of the clutter. Basically, this looks like a snapshot that was taken with a cellphone.
This isn't a portrait; it's a weak attempt at street photography. If you had moved to your left a bit, aimed lower, and focused on the hat, you would have made him the main subject and told a better story.
As Ansel Adams once said, "Chance favors the prepared photographer." It takes more than just a decisive moment to make a great photograph; you also need to to put all the elements (lighting, composition, focus, etc.) together to make the audience feel what you felt.
"Regardless of what this situation makes you feel, the photo itself doesn't communicate much in the grand scheme of things because of how poorly it was shot." – That's an interesting comment you make. How could this photo make you feel something, anything at all, and not successfully communicate something?
It's not like I'm not a stickler for technical details in my genre of work, but communication is not based on technical and compositional merits alone. Too many portraits are technical masterpieces, but don't seem to communicate much. Some technically flawed images communicate a lot. Could this photo have been framed better? Possibly. Is it the work of a professional photojournalist? Probably not. But does it still communicate something? I believe it does. See my comment below for how I read the story in this photo.
For what it's worth, Ansel Adams was obviously recognized as a great landscape photographer. Supposedly had to do some portraits and commercial work to pay the bills. But the great story-telling aspects of photography were largely absent from Adams's photos, at least compared to the work of someone such as Dorothea Lange who seriously bored into her subject's life and problems. Adams was a master of light and composition, but I doubt he ever walked the streets of New York photographing poverty or social issues of his era. I don't see his quotes as relevant to this sort of image.
I'm trying to wade through the different extremes of emotional impact which could be felt by the viewer of this photo. It's impossible to separate political opinions from the response. Most people are going to respond toward one extreme or another just by the MAGA hat. Indeed, some people will be disgusted by it; others are hopeful.
The man in the photo might simply be asleep, or just too exhausted to hold his head up, but I'm reading between the lines a sense of despair or hopelessness. I understand the photo was made shortly after the election, but I feel sorry for the people who voted for this president and have lost their jobs, or finding out that things are costing more rather than less, or getting deported without due process. Many of the most vulnerable who are supported by Medicaid are afraid of their benefits being cut. So I wonder how this man feels now, three months or so into the MAGA administration. I don't mean to launch a firestorm of political debate, but the photo certainly invites such.
That's just it though... you're not telling HIS story; you're telling YOUR story, which is based on your political views. You focused on how you interpreted his hat, instead of focusing on how to shoot a compelling image.
It's the difference between the epic Steven Spielberg movie "Schindler's List" and your neighbor's slideshow of their last vacation to Europe. I don't look at this and think, "Wow! This really captures the dichotomy between the disabled man's hope for a better future under a new administration." Instead, I looked at it and immediately thought, "Well, here's another person who feels the need to tell everyone who didn't ask where he stands politically."
Don't get me wrong; photojournalism is one of my favorite forms of photography and can be one of the most impactful mediums to help the general public SEE what's going on around them. Some iconic photos that did just that were the photos from the Kent State shooting during the Vietnam war protests, the starving child next to the vulture in Sudan, the US Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, and the Chinese student standing in front of a line of tanks at Tienanmen Square.
What you have here, though, is just a photographic version of you screaming into the void to let everyone know how you feel about the President. If you want to tell a story of a thousand words with one photo, then concentrate on taking a good photo. Otherwise, most people will likely just gloss over this instead of getting into a debate over the subject matter you were hoping it would.