This was a photo from a flea market. I was walking around, and came across this old, creepy baby in a bird cage. It seemed like a strange juxtaposition, so I pulled out my camera and snapped this shot. In taking the picture, I wanted to capture some of the background as well. This allowed me to see what was happening in the setting, and that this was some kind of festival/public event. With the cropping, I tried to remove any instance of outside the cage. The tighter shot focuses more on the cage, and I think portrays more of the confines. It seems to suggest being trapped or stuck. This is also further emphasized by the doll’s expression (or lack thereof) that is better highlighted in the cropped example. 
This is a picture of the Susquehanna River at Night in Harrisburg. I think I was out for a run while at a conference, and saw this nice sight. The moon was full, and the bridges spanning the Susquehanna were alight. I tried to capture the reflection since it created kind of a repeating patter both vertically and horizontally. With the cropped version, I just tried to keep the moon in the image and at the same time show at least one of the reflected bridge columns. This came out, but without the repetition, it loses some of the impact of the photo. I don’t think it conveys quite the same meaning.
Here’s a shot of me in Central Park waiting to run the NYC Half Marathon. It was a very cold March morning, so runners are trying to stay warm and limber before the race. I believe that there were close to 20,000 runners for this race, so it was incredibly crowded. I wanted to show that there were a lot of people behind me waiting and trying to stay warm. When I cropped the photo, I kept my eyes, and the guy next to me. I think this shows more intensity, and possibly that there might be something wrong. Maybe it looks like I am afraid of the guy behind me, or that I might be paranoid about something.
I took this photo in Princeton on Easter. The streets were pretty empty, but for whatever reason, there was an Easter Bunny walking around. I’m not sure if the bunny knew this woman or not, but they paused for a hug in front of the Ferry House. From far away and without any cropping, the image looks almost like nothing. It’s hard to notice the Bunny and the woman, and the other items in the photo (cars, fire escape, tree) kind of distract attention from this. However, when the image is cropped, you can see the intimacy of the moment in that the woman and the bunny have their arms draped around each other. They may be pausing for a photo, or they may be long lost friends, reunited on this special day. It looks like the Ferry House holds some special meaning for them as well in the cropped version.
I took this picture of my wife in Wildwood, NJ a few summers ago. I really liked the colors of the Ferris Wheel. It was difficult in the moment to get the entire wheel, and as you can see, part of it was cut off in the shot. Regardless, the colors turned out nice. For the first crop, I tried to crop out any people (although one random guy remains). I also tried to cut the wheel in half to give a kind of Gestalt feel, but because of the bar in the front and the missing left half, it didn’t completely turn out. I then tried to just crop the wheel and emphasize my wife. This turned out pretty nice. The background is not completely clear, but the lights add a nice effect.
This is a picture of El Morro, one of the two castle/fortresses in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was a shot of one of the watch towers that overlooked the Caribbean Sea. There was a walled walkway to the outlook. I got down on a knew and shot this picture of my wife. I liked the way the walls show continuous movement towards my wife and the tower. I cropped two images: One without my wife, and only with the top of the tower. This gives a strange, incomplete look. The other image is of my wife, but headless. In this second cropping, the walls look like they are trapping. Without the sky or open space in the image, the second cropping has a much more claustrophobic and trapped feel to it.
This was another image of the Susquehanna at night in Harrisburg. This was a different bridge though. It was lit up, and I liked the way the lights extended down and reflected. When I cropped this, I cut out most of the light reflection and only kept two parts of the bridge. It looks more like a box or shapes in the lights rather than a bridge.
bshevory 