Hattiesburg, Mississippi -- Eight patients whose cataracts had gone untreated for years because they couldn't afford it, had their lives transformed on Make A Difference Day when doctors opened the doors. Cataract sufferer Bobbie Morgan was legally blind and needed help to even step off a curb. Now she's able to drive a car.

This picture was completely inspired by Matt, USA WEEKEND's photo editor. He had this shot in mind when we first talked about the project at Southern Eye Center. I showed up with six cases of equipment and it was just a matter of convincing these folks that photography can be certainly much deeper than what they often see. I really am very attentive to what we have in the end, as opposed to just flying from one city to the next as quickly as possible and running a bunch of film through the camera.

We were looking for some kind of image that was symbolic of what the volunteer work was, and something that would really draw the reader in a very dramatic way into the story, as opposed to trying to recreate in a literal sense what the work had been. 

Photo Essay by Charles "Stretch" Ledford
StretchPhotography.com