Self-Portrait

You don't know it just by the image, but this is a photo of a young girl holding her mother's hand through a border fence in Arizona. This 25 year old girl's mother was deported 6 years prior and this is their reunion. In the first TED talk we watched about the Single Story, the speaker noted often we equate "illegal immigrant" with Mexican. The media often portray this group as violent criminals. But what you see in this image is a different side of that story– people who care deeply; who love and who suffer. It's in their eyes.

Beyond the rule of thirds, the photographer composes the image on a slanted grid, leaves the colors raw (the same as the emotion), and draws your attention to the hook: two hands holding on a giant, foreboding bar.