We would normally take a documentary visual approach to a project like this. In this case we wanted something illustrative, out of the box and creative to accompany the long stories and complicated graphics. David was one of our more creative photographers, perfect for the job. After some brainstorming, we proposed using metaphors for each subject juxtaposed against the Dallas skyline. For instance, crime would be represented by handcuffs, education by pencils, the economy by dollar bills, etc.
Some of the more conservative word editors in the room were quite nervous about the plan, to say the least, but David and I convinced them to give it a chance. The photos were shot mostly at sunset, when the light was moody. David had his wife Kim drop the objects into the frame off a ladder, over and over again, until he had the right effect, using slow sync flash to add movement to the images.
Here's the end product, which was printed on thick stock without advertising. It would be difficult to produce anything like this again, given the economic state of newspapers, but we had a good time working on this one.
