Photography - An Emotional Journey

We've all heard the old expression, 'A picture paints a thousands words' , it's an overused but still relevant cliché that puts the subject of Photography into a nice little proverbial box. What exactly does it mean though?

What is a Photograph? Well, technically, it's the capture of light on a digital sensor of a camera or on a light sensitive roll of film....yawn.....that description just bores me to tears to be honest...to me a photograph is so much more than that. It's the way an image can provoke an emotional reaction by the way it tells a story.

I began this article by including this powerful image taken by the brilliant Kevin Carter. Carter was a South African photo-journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for this particular shot which was taken during the famine in Sudan in 1993. It contains little context but it doesn't need to, the suggestion of what lies in store for the poor child is enough to make us all tremble in fear for their future. It's a brilliant example of how simple an image can be, how with such little detail we, as viewers, complete the story with our own narrative.

This image wouldn't provoke the same kind of reaction, of course, but what does it say to you when you look at it? To give you context, this is the Basilica di San Benedetto in the town of Norcia in Umbria. It's not a renovation as the scaffolding may suggest, the scaffolding is there to hold up the last remaining wall after the devastating earthquake of 2016. I just thought it was poignant that Saint Benedict himself was almost talking to us pointing to what had happened to the Cathedral built in his name. It's a simple shot, taken from a strategic angle but there's a story there.

This is another simple example of how an image can provoke a reaction and the story follows almost naturally. The precise interpretation may be different for us all but that's the beauty of it.

So, how does this translate in a commercial photography sense? How do I apply this thinking to, say, a product shot?

Imagine for a moment, a company like Bunalun came to me and asked me to take a product photo of a bag of their oats. I could take a shot like this....

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this shot, it's well lit, it's pin sharp and it stands out against the background. Is this what the client is looking for though? Of course not. Why not? Well, because it doesn't tell a story. This image doesn't want to make me go out and buy a bag of Oats. So, what about this then?.....

Now, you're talking! Suddenly, we have an image that still shows the Oats, but we now have a bowl of warm delicious porridge, we have succulent blueberries, juicy raspberries and sweet runny honey. This image tells a story right? The power of this image, though, is that it's subliminal. You could flick through a magazine and come across this image but you wouldn't spend any time analysing it, you'd turn the page without giving it any thought. However, next time you were strolling through the supermarket you might see the porridge oats and be tempted into buying the product on the back of the story you have subconsciously recalled.

So a product is easy to sell with brand photography like this, large companies like Apple have long since figured out how powerful imagery can be in selling their products. They understand their brand and what it means to their customers. What about small companies or start-ups though? What if you are a service, how can I apply this thinking to sell your brand or service?

Many of you will be familiar with this image I took of Ted Walsh from Enable me Coaching. It's an image I'm particularly proud of. What was the thinking behind it? Well, having worked with Ted for some months I came up with a simple analogy to describe how he helped me. I knew what I needed to be doing to run my business, I had all the pieces of the jigsaw wrapped up in my head but I couldn't figure out how to structure my working week to enable me to do all the things I needed to do. Ted 'enabled' me to find the straight edges of the Jigsaw as it were and I then found I could put all the pieces in the right place. The image was born out of this analogy, and really tells Ted's story.

This is another product shot, I took for the guys at Finn & Elder. Whilst we needed the basic product images against a whitewashed infinity wall, the image of the furniture in its more natural setting is far more powerful and really makes the furniture pop.

So this, briefly, touches on the power of photography. how it can tug on your heartstrings, how it inspire feelings of happiness and elation, maybe it can be nostalgic or perhaps it can prompt feelings of excitement of what we have to look forward to. It can sell a product or service or it can remind us what we can achieve. Whatever the emotions, every image tells a story in its own way.

I am always keen to emphasise to everyone I meet that if you love a picture you've taken, be proud of it, show it off. There's an awful lot of snobbery in our industry, many of my peers look down their noses at others work, calling into question the technical flaws or the breaking of the laws of composition. There was a time when I cared about the opinion of others and whilst I value positive feedback, ultimately, if I love an image I've taken then that's all that matters.

Andy ??