Haiti: Storytelling Images

Photos by Libby March/Staff Photographer 

Magdaniel Delvas, 6, jumps rope Aug. 12 at My Heart's Home Orphanage in Port Au Prince, Haiti.  Magdaniel is the son of Pastor Magnus Delvas, a minister who lives with his wife and their three other sons at My Heart's Home as part of the staff caring for ten orphaned children, ranging from one to six years old.

Jake May's Take:
When choosing which photographs to run in the print edition of the newspaper, some great images get left on the cutting room floor. Editing down the Haiti take by Staff Photographer Libby March was incredibly difficult because so many of the photos had such great storytelling moments. These four photos included in this post are prime examples of great work that just did not have room to run in print.

The edit started simply with 45GB of photos, a feat that was first tackled by Libby March herself. Once she brought it down to about 500-plus total, Assistant Photo Editor Sean Proctor and myself sat down with her over a cup of coffee to bring it down even further. We ended up with 97 photos at this point. Sean and I then went back through one more time to really focus on what told the story best in about 10 to 12 images. And each of these images were in that final edit.

We then had to determine which photos to lose to best tell the story in fewer images. So we did. The cuts we made were to show more of the life and interaction between the volunteers from Mount Pleasant with the Haitian children at My Heart's Home. We wanted to show the children's personalities, and honestly, their curiosity with the volunteers at work. We also wanted to synchronize storytelling moments in photos that pair with the written story. A lot goes into this process, and if we could, we would have played them all, but that could not happen.

As for the photos you are looking at, please take the time to look at them, and understand what value each has with the original story. Each is a storytelling moment that, alas, did not make the final print edit, but as I said before, they are fantastic example of what the Central Michigan Life photo staff strives for in daily and long-term project work. Truly phenomenal photojournalism.


Jonathan Delvas, 5, left, looks up at his brother Magdaniel Delvas, 6, top bunk, as Yolette Louis, 4, laughs, under the observation of Leicka Sidney, 2, held by Ciera Allen, 11, of Coleman, August 12 at My Heart's Home orphanage in Port Au Prince, Haiti. The children are playing on a newly constructed bunk, one of seven bunks built by HCI volunteers Steve Shanaver and Lonny Phillips.



Pastor Ron Ives of Potter's House Family Worship Center in Mount Pleasant prays over a member of Pastor Magnus Delvas' church August 15 in Port Au Prince, Haiti.


Sean Proctor's Take:
Choosing a photo to lead off a page or a story is a difficult task. Essentially, you have to find a photo that not only looks good, but is story-telling, will draw your viewers in and is also well composed. A good caption and a solid moment go a long way as well, be it a daily assignment where you took anywhere from 50 to 200 frames, or a mission trip to Haiti, where you took over 45 gigs of photos.

Editing down thousands and thousands of photos to a few hundred is exhausting. Which has better focus, what's the better moment? The light is nicer in this one, they're looking at the camera, this has a better background or better layers. However, editing down the few hundred to about a dozen photos takes an intensely critical eye, as well as the ability to say "out" to a photo you really are attached to.

When Jake May (Photo Editor), Libby March (Staff Photographer) and myself (Assistant Photo Editor) sat down over our staple of coffee and bagels to sort through her few hundred photo edit for the A3 photo page and A7 jump, we had to be able to make those hard decisions. It sounds silly to say that, "hard decisions", but to create a story that stands on its own, as well as with the story? It really is quite difficult.

Within an hour, we had narrowed the number of photos into the double digits. 97. Which means we still had to lose at least 80 more photos before we even started getting close to where we needed to be. It was time to nitpick. To be harsh enough to ax a photo because the focus was off by a hair, or the almost minuscule detail of the photo made it worth ditching. 97 became 70-something, which became 40-something, which became 20-something, which became 10 or 12, depending on the edit.

In a story like this, every aspect is important. You need to see the Heart Cry volunteers, you need to see the orphans, you need to see work, you need to see play, you need to see interaction and emotional connection. You need all of these photos to work with the story. Every photo printed did this, every photo played its part. Yet, Jake and I found ourselves still wanting these four photos you see here to play. We swapped out other photos, tried different positioning and crops. Does it work better as a secondary? Or, as I call it, a tertiary? What makes the most graphic impact to warrant the 6-column main?

Sure, I can give you a reason why each one of these photos got the cut, but regardless of that, each of these photos bring an important of the story into its frame, and each frame is exceptional in its own right.


Shelda Joseph, 3, plays alone with a toy in the boys' room August 10 at My Heart's Home orphanage in Port Au Prince, Haiti.