Nadav Kander, photojournalist?

Saw these images in yesterday's NYT magazine article about Obama and the economy. Once again, Nadav was hanging with the White House crew, and applied his signature touch to this portrait of our Pres:

I can't tell if I like this or not. There is something kind of sinister about the way his eyes look -- the shadows in the eye sockets are a bit dark. And the blue cast makes him look a bit sickly. Then again, how cool is it to see a portrait of our president shot by Nadav Kander? It's hard to imagine GW sitting for a portait like this, let alone allowing it to run. I guess I like thinking that our new president is a bit more open to new ideas.

But then later in the article, they ran this picture:

Which is pretty interesting. Totally unlit, candid, and his eyes are almost closed. Such an odd image to choose. It's even more odd to think that Mr. Kander shot this. It is unlike anything he's ever shown. It looks like all the pictures I took in high school.

It's funny to think about photojournalism and how it really levels the playing field: Fancy cameras, complex lighting, and excessive retouching all go away, and it's just a photographer and a camera.