Decisions, Decisions

This image represents one of the most difficult tasks we have as photojournalists...editing. I photographed this gentleman as he described to a reporter what he saw when he witnessed a 17-year-old girl gunned down in front of her high school before the start of classes one morning. He was visibly shaken and described the incident as "an attempted execution".

So should we go with image (1) where he is wiping tears away from his face? The action is literal and there would be no issues with reproduction which may be the issue with image (2). The second image is the most striking of the four, but with the age of our press, we have to be concerned about whether or not readers will even be able to see the tears. Image (3) kind of combines more than one emotion...you can see him welling up with tears, but he almost has a look of disgust on his face. And finally, image (4) is more of an overall including more information about the scene with a police vehicle and school bus in the background.

The verdict...image (2).