I don't think it's the fact that the pictures are taken in America that suggest there's "something sinister lurking in the darkness". Pictures are taken by peo

I don't think it's the fact that the pictures are taken in America that suggest there's "something sinister lurking in the darkness". Pictures are taken by people, and the fact that an American chose to take such a picture may be interpreted as an expression of that person's then sensibilities. That can mean that "he was suggesting that America, even at its most beautiful, had something sinister lurking in the darkness". That's because he chose to show those things, because those things are what he felt had "meaning".