Staring down the barrel of bankruptcy, an Arizona State University doctoral student with Stage 4 colon cancer who ran out of insurance money to cover his treatment decided he had nothing to lose by tweeting the CEO of his health insurance company and asking for help.

These candid portraits of powerful corporate executives, taken this weekend at the private investment firm Allen & Company's annual media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, intrigued us for reasons we can't fully explain. Maybe it's because some of these rich guys seem so damned miserable?