A picture’s worth a thousand words.
We’ve uttered this phrase millions of times, collectively, over the years. But do we really believe it?
I don’t. In fact, I feel it misses the point entirely.
You see, I love photography. It’s one of my great passions, along with cooking and writing. And it’s one of the reasons why a sweeping desert landscape greets readers as they come to Words of the West. I took that photo, and I’m as proud of it as I am my many blog articles.
Still, I feel photography is underappreciated and misunderstood. In our technologically advanced world, too many people see photos as a snapshot reminder of a moment in time — a crystal clear alternative to a thousand winding words of prose.
I feel it’s something far greater. To me, photography a blank canvas open to interpretation.
For there’s so much more to a photo than just the objects in it. There’s lighting, shadows and sky color. There’s depth of field and the signs of motion. There’s framing, balance and orientation.
All of these elements converge on one theme: perspective.
Perspective is what makes photography more than just a Polaroid of a time gone by. Perspective makes photography as much art as science, if not more.
But perspective has a unique place in the world of photography — as it’s twofold by nature.
First, there’s the perspective of the photographer. The artist who manipulates factors of light, time and frame to create his or her own window into a moment in time.
Then, there’s the perspective of the viewer. The person who takes in the image secondhand in a gallery or on an Instagram feed and makes that window all their own.
Both perspectives are significant. Both are unique. And both demonstrate that even the simplest snapshot is not so simple.
This dual narrative is what draws me to photography, what captivates me. There’s something uniquely beautiful and powerful when one relatable piece of imagery has the power to tell two stories.
Yet, there’s something sinister about equating this phenomenon with a measure of the written word.
It’s apples and oranges.
After all, writing serves a different purpose than photography. It’s about conveying a message through a protocol that both the writer and reader share — language. While effective writing can stir emotion, there is often a narrow frame of interpretation for the reader. The rules of written language make it so.
With no words to steer a course, photography is much more open to imagination. How something is captured — and what’s left out of the image — are key elements in the story. The frame matters just as much as the picture.
This is an important distinction — and one that stretches far beyond the camera lens. For in a world where technology makes it easy for all of us to broadcast, share and connect, framing matters more than ever.
We cannot take everything we see, hear or read at face value. Whether they’re filled with truth or alternative facts, the messages we consume are just one part of the story.
How we frame them matters. Our perspective matters — more than any 1,000 words can say.
So never forget the dual narrative in every experience. We have the power to shape the stories we consume. Best to use that power wisely.