Wednesday 13 October 2010

The picture we have all been waiting for ...

... the first man freed from the mine underneath the Atacama Desert. And if there was ever an excuse for wiping out your whole front page, this was it. The dilemma for the picture editor though was not the size ... but the crop. Do you focus in on the hug, leave in the crowd or even the capsule? Do you go horizontal or vertical? In the end, just use it big. I would usually advocate the tight crop but in this picture the setting is pretty compelling and the capsule really needs to be in. But there are other contenders for the cover too - particularly the defiant stance of the oldest miner 63-year-old Mario Heredia whose wife had asked him to retire just days before he was trapped. Santiago's Las Ultimas Noticias used it really well. Nice headline too - certainly better than Free at last. 



2 comments:

  1. Ultimas Noticias get my vote by a country mile. Loads of impact, a headline that's creative and works, and a picture that not only has loads of atmosphere, but actually shows the face of a miner rather than President Pinera's.

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  2. What a complete mess that front page of the Bakersfield Californian is. In every possible way. I started to list everything that is wrong with it and it just defies belief.

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