Extra-Credit Photograph Assignment

A mother comforts her son after his father attacked her and then wielded the knife at deputies who shot and killed the man.

This is my favorite picture I saw in this archive. The personal moment between the mother and son is very emotionally overwhelming. I also find the strength seen in the mother's face incredibly interesting. She's the one who was attacked and yet she is comforting, not the one being comforted. I think it's a display of a mother's strength and resolve when it comes to her child.


The Ring-O-Fire gives riders a different view of the Florida Citrus Festival.

I think that the angle of this photograph is very clever. The caption talks about how riders get a different view of the festival while we, the audience, get a not often seen perspective of the ride. Also, the color composition of this photograph is very well done. Orange and blue are contrasting colors, making the photo look more balanced and dynamic.


William Mills celebrates after the Razorbacks knocked off the heavily favored SMU Mustangs.

Capturing Mills in the middle of celebration and making him the sole subject of the photograph gives the audience a sense that they're sharing a very personal, joy-filled moment with him.


WHO”S WATCHING, a sexual predator lives within one mile of most homes in the state of Florida.

I think this illustration/photograph is very haunting and unsettling, illustrating the presence of sexual predators in a child's life. It captured the subject matter.


Tom Stephens holds a gun to the head of his wife, at an Arlington, Tx 7-11, after being served with divorce papers. The siege ended with one clerk dead another shot and Stephens committing suicide.

This image is incredibly disturbing which is why I think it's so good. Sackett dares to throw this not often seen image of domestic violence directly in your face, no fancy angles or distortion. It's straightforward and the audience has no choice but to look at it.


Deputies restrain David Letterman’s stalker Margaret Mary Ray as she becomes belligerent and aggressive during her competency hearing.

The moment this image was captured is very important. It's in this moment that the picture tells a story, the woman's sanity (or lack thereof), her distress, and even the power of celebrity. It certainly makes me uncomfortable looking at it but I think that that was Sackett's purpose.


A couple stand with their infant in the door of a van they call home in a Houston encampment known as Reaganville.

This is another case where Sackett intentionally simplifies the photograph (this time adding in black and white, nothing is more straightforward than black and white) to make a statement. He doesn't approach the subject in a roundabout way, by making the photograph straightforward, he makes the audience look at it and face the realities of modern poverty head on.


Abdelelmajid Aassal takes a cigarette break at his Kissimmee, Florida home that took a direct hit from a tornado.

The combination of chaos and calm, the ruined house and a smoke break, offers interesting contrast to the photograph.


A priest searches for the dead to administer the last rites after Delta Flight 191 crashed in Dallas while emergency personnel follow and remove the bodies.

The distance this photo was taken from is interesting because it depersonalizes it. We don't have to look at any dead bodies, we can barely even tell that's a priest.


A sand hill crane checks the surroundings.

I like this picture because it reminds me of those Japanese prints of herons and cranes. It calls to mind culture, serenity, and refinement.