The assignment was typical of a young reporter working in a small-town -- go do a feature on a class of high school kids making their own sausage for a big benefit pancake breakfast.
Knowing full well the old admonition (two things you never want to see made -- sausage and laws) I was faced with a dilemma: how to tell the story visually without getting gross, and how to come up with a good picture, not something stupid like standing some kids up against the wall and snapping away.
The x-marks-the-sport photo was the result. While I had plenty of good snaps in my news career, this still gets my vote as my favorite. The editor of the Chillicothe Gazette killed it outright -- too violent, too graphic -- and something lame (I don't remember what) ran in its place. I didn't consider it violent or graphic at all, but the impending implication was enough.
Journalism ethics aside (and let's face it, most journalism ethics discussions are actually lame excuses for not having any courage), this photo illustrates two points on what makes a good news photograph.
Composition. There are lots of ways to artistically compose a photograph, but the easiest way to add drama is to make sure it contains a strong diagonal. The arm and the gun provide that diagonal; the X on the doomed pig is a perfect endpoint for the gaze motion.
Shooter Location Ohio University professor Chuck Scott used to preach that too many pictures are taken from five-feet, six-inches off the ground (eye-level). I scrambled over the hood of the truck and atop the cab to get the killer angle. When in doubt, shoot up or shoot down.
