By a stroke of dumb luck, I stumbled upon a February gallery from Region 8 featuring James Harden of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Being the avid sporting fan I am, it was a no-brainer to pick the first place winner by Smiley N. Pool of the Houston Chronicle. The 11-picture color gallery features the emerging young superstar over the course of NBA All-Star Weekend 2013, held in Houston. Harden is depicted signing autographs, handling media inquiries, posing for pictures, performing community service and preparing for the primetime event.

With the exception of a very verbose first caption (90 words!!), the rest of the captions are concise one-liners that do a diligent job of providing context. The first caption provides the necessary background on Harden for those unfamiliar with the bearded maestro: traded from Oklahoma City to Houston before the season, Harden went from being the 2011 winner of the Sixth Man Award (given to the best non-starter in the NBA) on a title contender to a first time All-Star and the face of a franchise on the rise. After that however, the captions are short and informative. Once the reader has been introduced to Harden, there’s no need to remind them of his prior experiences.

I absolutely love what Pool did with the first photograph, framing the distinct silhouette of Harden against a magnificent blue sky as he approaches the arch of the Houston Food Bank for the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service project. In my opinion, the photo is flawlessly composed, featuring the sun and Harden framed between the edge of the picture and the shadowy arch. Though you could replace Harden with any individual and the angled-up picture would still be captivating, Harden’s bushy beard makes him the perfect shadowy foil for the shining sun.

Picture 3 gives the audience an idea of just how big of a star Harden has become. As he faces what can only be described as a mob at the media portion of All-Star weekend, it’s evident James Harden has become a star of the event. The bird-eye view shot of Harden addressing the crowd is a direct contrast of the first shot I referenced, shooting down on Harden, as opposed to up. I’m a big fan of pictures that give the reader an idea of the scope, magnitude or size of a situation, and this one does that in spades.

In an entirely different composition, the last photo of the gallery features the number one tenant mentioned by Kobre in regards to photo selection: intimacy. As Harden takes a break from packaging food for those in need to hug his mother, Pool’s picture is both graphically and emotionally appealing during an intimate moment between mother and son. His mother’s expression says it all. More than anything, I felt an immense sense of pride radiating from his mother, and despite the fact that they’re surrounded by people, to me, it felt like they were all by themselves. And in my opinion, that above all defines intimacy.