Statistics as a Photo Story

This is a piece by Mona Reeder from the Dallas Morning News that won several awards and sparked interest in an issue that had been partially covered in pieces, but she was the first to compile it. In a nutshell, Ms. Reeder put together an investigative photo story after seeing the embarrassing statistics that the state of Texas held in relation to the rest of the country in areas such as poverty and environmental awareness.

'The Bottom Line' shows grim, intimate images of families dealing with impoverished living conditions, failing health, imprisonment, death...and yet, Texas is home to the most Fortune 500 companies in the country. Not to mention its oil industry.

I was fortunate enough to hear Ms. Reeder speak at the Atlanta Photojournalism seminar last year and this story—and its images—have stood out in my memory ever since. Ms. Reeder had pitched this story to her editors for years and got turned down over and over again until finally, they gave her the go-ahead.

I have no idea how much time she spent on this piece, but it was published in eight sections by category. After it was completed, Ms. Reeder sent copies of it to every elected official in Texas—and several in the nation—to highlight the issues and as of December 2008 had not received a single response.

Ms. Reeder spent a lot of time earning the trust of every family she worked with. She captured uncomfortably intimate situations as a result and created a collection of haunting photos and quick statistics that are impossible to ignore.

As I was trying to refresh my memory about the story behind the story, I stumbled upon an interview with Ms. Reeder on Poynter’s Web site and came upon a great quote of hers which I feel perfectly summarizes the importance of captivating images , as well as good design, in today’s struggling newspaper industry:

“To me, "The Bottom Line" project embodies what our managers have been saying the last several years as newspapers experience shrinking readership and news holes. This project represented a well-researched, in-depth piece about serious issues affecting the entire state of Texas, and it was presented in an innovative manner that even the busiest person could get through and absorb in a relatively short amount of time.
Photo essays are the bread and butter of major news magazines, and our world is increasingly focused on visual mediums. It seems to follow that newspapers would gravitate to cleaner designs utilizing compelling, in-depth photo stories to attract and keep readers.”

Just another example of how a statistics story can be made interesting… A really, REALLY good example.

(The slideshow above is awesome, but here are some of the photos with captions, which make them all the more depressing.)