Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Role of Photography in Communication
One of the definitions of communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. Years back, communication was delivered mainly through words with photographs for emphasis. I think, today, the balance has shifted toward photographs and video to deliver the message and away from the written word. Admittedly, television, with the power to deliver live feeds from battle fronts, natural disasters and school shootings has been a main contributor. However the emergence of the internet has made the photograph just as influential. This combination, along with the hurried lifestyles we all live today make it so much easier to just ‘surf the net’, peruse the photos and their captions and move onto the next item. No longer do we need to read the details, we have it all in one photograph and a few lines. Dozens of photographs can be uploaded to the internet for world wide viewing in mere minutes. Why would an individual spend countless hours writing descriptive details of the horrors of Iraq or the suffering of Katrina victims when they can shoot and upload hundreds of photographs that say it all? Last week, our professor mentioned the Civil War and the photography that took place then. I have a book on the Civil War at home as it is the one time in history I wish I had more time to spend understanding. Anyway, Richard, my 10 year old grandson was over. He, like most kids, has a non-existent attention span. However he pulled this book off the shelf and within 10 minutes, he was immersed in the Civil War. I explained high level what it was, why it occurred and how terribly tragic it was but the pictures in the book said all the things I didn’t say. He began to understand that this was a very sad and awful era in our history, he asked many questions and every time he comes to the apartment, he grabs the book. He’s not reading it, (although he is fully capable) he’s looking at the photographs and asking questions. So maybe the role of photography in communication is to get to all the people too busy to read, too young for a measurable attention span or those who want to know it all, about everything, right now. Sure, they may read more into a photograph than is there, or misinterpret, but this will spark conversation and that, too, is communication.
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