Stage II
We started by cleaning up the photo, increasing contrast slightly, and getting rid of the tree on her right so we'd have more space for type. With the focus of the design on the "creepy" content, the opening line about photography seems out of place and cramped over on the left. The horizontal nature of the photo lessens the impact of the vertically stacked type, leading to lack of focus. It's just not integrating.

Final
We chopped off the left side of the picture (but left some creepy branches reaching towards Great-Grandma) and added black canvas at top and bottom to create a vertical image. We also added a little more headroom at the top for breathing space around the type. We pulled the opening line and the attribution out of the main image area in order to keep the focus on the "drowning, dissolving" business.

We increased tension overall by making the left edge of the black background slightly off-square, running the opening sentence into the top of the photo, and pushing "dissolving" towards Great-Grandma's face so it almost looks like she's shrinking away from it. Unfortunately the Web doesn't allow us to show the detail within the typography, such as the dissolved forms within the word "dissolving." The line "First you must lose yourself" seems to be galloping forward from the horizon, with "Then it happens" just touching Great-Grandma's skirt so we know it "got her"! That last sentence switches to white to integrate with the skirt and also to change the "voice" of the quote, shifting almost to a stage whisper.

Can you tell we love this image? Who knows, we may just use it every month! Thanks to Marne for giving us the opportunity to play.