Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images

Cling, Haiti, 2005

“CLING” WAS SHOT on my very first assignment for a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Haiti at a church service one Sunday morning. It’s a vertically framed 2:3 photograph representing four boys looking into a church service for which there is no more room inside.

I think this photograph works for a couple of reasons, despite some weaknesses I’ve always wished I could change. On a purely visual level, it was the vertically outstretched arms of two of the boys that suggested the vertical frame. Framing this horizontally would have meant either cropping more of the boys than I wanted, or stepping back too far and losing some of the isolation I worked hard to get. Cropping the boys horizontally would have prevented the long ...