Can a Picture Really Tell a Thousand Words?

We all have pictures in our mind’s eye of who we think people are. These images often define how we see. What is the purpose of a photographic portrait if we already know what we want to see? Can a picture really tell a thousand words, or is that picture already inside your head?

I dove into the world of the men-in-blue and opened my aperture, my eyes, and my heart. In a three part photo essay for The Southampton Press, eye on the viewfinder, inspired, I focused — macro style — on the Community Response Unit (CRU), a flagship division of the Southampton Town Police. I quickly realized that a group portrait would not say enough so for four months I traveled with each member individually and here's what emerged.

By Cheryl Machat Dorskind
Copyright, 2007
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