Most Powerful!

I simply can’t imagine a world without photographs, yes! OK, so you hold on and just think about this for a minute; the internet had only text, no images on TV and newspapers, magazines or any other media…imagining the world with no photos. It’s hard, right? I know. But obviously the world sometime back existed without any form of photos, yet man survived, so photos are not necessities of life, even though today, photography is part of our lives almost on daily basis, from still photos to motion (video). We are immersed in the ‘photography ocean’ from selfies, candid photos to professional photography photos.

From the time our baby is born until the time they get their own smartphones to take selfies, we mostly document their biography in photos and videos. Same with our own lives. From time to time we keep photos for memories at good times and at not so good times. 

It is a fact that photos easily enable the mind to recollect than words. No wonder it is popularly known that a photo speaks volumes than thousand words. We keep photos of loved ones inside of our wallets and purses or decorate the walls at home with photos. We live around photos and they have become an intricate part of our lives. As we are exposed to so many photos in our daily lives, we tend to take it for granted, and often underestimate its full impact.

Photography classification in itself covers every aspect of our daily lives, take; Street Photography, Portrait, Landscapes, Seascapes, Travel, Adventure, Documentary, Marco, Wildlife and the list goes on and on, you, let’s leave these for another time. Yet, except some few schools who offer some form of photography courses, we are still waiting to see photography entering the main stream higher educational system as a degree program.

Photography has the power to change perception (mind and heart). Photography has the power to influence emotions (senses). And if there is something in this world, that has the power to control senses, mind and heart - in my opinion, it is the most powerful tool of man. I think it is fair to say that photographers are powerful. Photographers have the skills to determine scene, which lens for which lighting for which moment…let’s leave this one too for another time.

Whether it's a photo that deeply saddens you or that which gives you extreme delight, the fact remains that photography is a powerful medium of communication. What is so difficult for photography to communicate? Is it wealth, poverty, terror, war, or peace? In fact, photography can transport us to the unseen part of the world.

And have you ever wondered why computers were reinvented from command based to graphic user interface, to really see photo representing icons to inform functionalities? Most often a photo without accompanying content, leaves a lot to imagination, and this fact tempts us to dwell more into this media to unearth its latent implications.

The world today, has many catalysts for change, one of them certainly is photography, the most powerful invention of man in this 21^st Century!

Photo Credit: 

Emmanuel Bobbie (Bob Pixel), 

Kofi Motivation.

Kojo Eyshun

©Harry Tetteh