Here's another example of how an image was used. (Remember I promised in January that every once in a while I'll show how and where my images get used?) I picked this because when capturing images of people, I try hard to get their face, especially their eyes. That's usually what makes us interesting. But sometimes, as in this case where I was shooting women working in a rice paddy in Java, a situation where it's dang hard to get faces because people are bent over and purposefully shading their faces from the sun, I'm left with little else than the rest of their body. So here I'm screwing around with the alignment of the rows, the woman and her shadow, the reflection of the sun behind her, etc. (I'd hate for you to think I ever took a decent photo simply because I got lucky), and come up with an image that, later on when I'm editing, I look at it and say, "Err…" But, what the heck, I process it anyway and stick it in with the rest, in this case a bunch of photos I was shooting for the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance as part of a campaign about food security, particularly what international trade policies had done to domestic rice production in Ghana, Honduras and Indonesia.

What's curious is that sometimes designers love these kind of images, apparently because they're intriguing without taking over the layout. They can lay their fonts all over the place and the photo doesn't overwhelm. In this case, a report that was skillfully designed by my friend Gilberto Lontro, it works well. That's good, because I hate to think I stood out there and got all sweaty and sunburned for nothing.