Friday, May 6, 2011

A Non-Picture Post

With all the news stirring about the picture proof it makes you start to think. This isn't what you think it will be. Not about I need to see a picture...not a I want a trophy...not a celebration of a death. All those points are mute compared to a big picture. (no pun intended)

So what could this possibly be? Our digital age...how fast does our media move? I can do a shoot and edit in the field and post a picture from the shoot all within a matter on minutes. I can post a picture here in Missouri and someone across the globe can see it. Heck, I can see a picture from Saturday morning in Japan while it is still light out here in Missouri on Friday!? But what does this have to do with a a single picture from a Navy SEAL raid?

The power of a photo...the meaning behind a photo...the meaning behind any photo. It captures a moment in time and invokes many different emotions, depending on the person who is viewing. The doubters are crying for proof...the ones wounded by this man are wanting to see justification, but what about the ones who loved him? One picture many different emotions. Power of an art form?

Photography has changed vastly since the ages of a dark room being the only way to have a print to paper. We don't even need a paper print in some cases...digital frames. A small little file compressed into a .jpg .raw .dng...what does it hold? Pixels by the millions? Art? Emotion? Power? I say yes! From the first few hours of a newborns life to the flitting breaths in death...it can now all be captured and shown to the world with in minutes...seconds. And all evoke some sort of emotion.

The one who snaps is carrying more than just a little emotion. You have trusted this person to emotionally move you. 1/8000 of a second holds little meaning in a 24 hours day, but in the mirror slapping world of photography it can make you laugh or cry and even both.

It's not about needing a picture to prove power.

But as a photographer it's about the power of a picture we need to prove.

No comments: