Keating shot this photo with a digital Canon EOS 10D, but normally prefers to use his Leica M6.

Be in the right place

“If there’s some huge, earthshaking event, it’s pretty standard that a photo documenting it will win,” says former New York Times photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner Eddie Keating.

Pay attention to your surroundings

“I was in an apartment directly facing Ground Zero,” he explains. “The room was turned upside down, but this dust-covered tea set (above) sat undisturbed. I walked by it at least five times, but it didn’t even occur to me to take a photo.” Keating admits to shooting it as an afterthought on his way out the door.

Try something different

Rules, schmules! “Good photography is all about finding new ways to present information,” says Keating. He suggests surveying your subject to assess the lighting and trusting your gut feeling. “Find an angle that looks right to you.”

Don’t waste your time

Keating took four shots—in less than ten seconds—and the first one made it into a package that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news photography for the Times in 2002. “Go with your impulse: It’s the initial connection with the object that’s special,” he says.

—Lisa Freedman