
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And that’s never been more true than in our fractured-attention-span, doom-scrolling age. People can process an image in as little as 13 milliseconds — and that often means deciding whether to read the story below that image - or not - exactly that quickly.
So the choices journalists make about what image to put with a story really matter. But they can also be very complicated.
OPB’s Photo Editor Kristyna Wentz-Graff sat down with us to talk about the decisions she makes when taking photographs and choosing which images will accompany stories. We talked about covering elections, protests, homelessness and more … all while remaining centered on the fundamental humanity of her subjects.

Perrin Thompson kisses her ballot for luck and does a little dance before dropping it into a drop site outside of the Multnomah County Elections Division in Portland, Ore., Nov. 8, 2022. Full story here.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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