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.
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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
"I expected when I touched his coffin I would feel some sort of a connection," says Kristen Nelson, of the first time that she touched her husband, Cpl. Ricky Nelson's casket, April 22, 2008 at Proko Funeral Home in Kenosha. "The first time I touched it, I felt nothing, because he's not there. It's just an empty feeling knowing that he's not here with us at all. It was just a horrible feeling." Ricky was killed 8 days before by a roadside bomb in Iraq during his second tour of duty in Iraq with the Marine Reserve Fox Company unit. Kristen and Ricky were a week away from their one year anniversary at the time of his death.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Aztec dancer Maira Barrera Mazatl of Sublimity dances during opening prayers at “Tending Our Roots,” an event aimed at bringing awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous people, held at South Hawthorne Waterfront Park in Portland, May 5, 2022.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Portland Police Sgt. Jerry Cioeta checks for a pulse after giving a third round of opioid reversal medication to a man found unresponsive in downtown Portland, Ore. The man was revived.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Portland Police Officers Donny Mathew (CQ) checks the timer on his phone, waiting for treatment providers to arrive after arresting a woman for drug possession in downtown Portland, Sept. 10, 2024. In the interim between HB 4002 going into effect and the opening of Multnomah County’s deflection center, mobile deflection providers had to arrive on scene within 30 minutes, or the arrestee would go to jail.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Portland Police Bureau’s bike squad members, including Portland Police Sgt. Jerry Cioeta, center, are reflected in a downtown business window while awaiting transport for a man on a fentanyl-related charge, Feb. 7, 2024. The work was part of a pilot program by Portland Police Bureau’s bike squad and addiction recovery providers, launched in December, 2023, which has now been funded as part of the coordinated fentanyl emergency response between the state, city of Portland and Multnomah County.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A person huddles under a blanket in downtown Portland, Ore., Nov. 15, 2023.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A walker is decorated with flowers, parked outside of a tent along SW 13th Avenue in Portland, April 4, 2022. Many campers stay in this area because of the close proximity Outside In where they are able to access support services.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A person who attempted to escape from the library is detained and arrested. Law enforcement teams clear protesters from Portland State University’s Branford Price Millar Library, May 2, 2024. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Law enforcement teams clear protesters from Portland State University’s Branford Price Millar Library, May 2, 2024. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
People attempt to stop a white van carrying detained protesters. Law enforcement teams clear protesters from Portland State University’s Branford Price Millar Library, May 2, 2024. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The occupation continues at Portland State University’s Branford Price Millar Library, May 1, 2024. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A person writes a Huey P. Newton quote from “Revolutionary Suicide,” seen during a tour inside the occupied Branford Price Millar Library at Portland State University, April 30, 2024. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A “Die In” was held in from of Portland State University’s Branford Price Millar Library, May 1, 2024. As people laid on the ground, names of some children who have been killed in Palestine were read over a megaphone. Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza have occupied the library since Monday evening, and renamed it Refaat Alareer Memorial Library.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The evening demonstration held on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death was a contrast to the peaceful demonstration held earlier in the day, May 25, 2021 in Portland. A crowd of approximately 150 people, most dressed in black, lit a dumpster on fire outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center, then walked through downtown breaking windows and painting graffiti before the crowd finally dispersed.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The evening demonstration held on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death was a contrast to the peaceful demonstration held earlier in the day, May 25, 2021 in Portland. A crowd of approximately 150 people, most dressed in black, lit a dumpster on fire outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center, then walked through downtown breaking windows and painting graffiti before the crowd finally dispersed.
