refLECTURE IV:"A Thousand Words"

We've all heard it before. A picture can tell a thousand words. But I think it can do more.
Words and language, it's limited. Only accessible to those who have been taught and understand its inner workings. Variation amongst languages make exact translations virtually impossible, ultimately leading to misunderstandings (the Bible being a prime example). And we are limited to the words in the dictionary. Anything that doesn't exist as a single word in the dictionary has to be explained in a phrase. Ultimately leading to a lot of 'word pollution' that many people couldn't be bothered to read through. Impact lost. A picture on the other hand...

The Primary Example of Photojournalism

Sure, a picture is limited to those blessed with sight, but it can share meaning, emotion, and a story to all who see it, regardless of language. That is the power of a picture.

What makes a great photo? There's the technical aspects like framing (the rule of thirds), angle, point of view, light exposure, shutter speed, and selecting a focus which draws the eye.  These points are all covered in Photography 101, but mastered by few.

Proving It Doesn't Take The Digital Age
To Capture 'The Moment'

And then there's the thing no-one can teach. Capturing 'The Moment'. Whether it's luck or destiny, sometimes the perfect photograph is caught. One with meaning. "A picture has no meaning at all if it can't tell a story."(Eetu Silanpaa) One that tells a story.

A photo used for journalism, should incorporate as many elements from the story as possible. The most important details: location, people, what's happening, and why. Moreover, it should spark emotion.

Enough of me talking about great photos. Check out the few below. They speak for themselves.

Digital capture and upload has no doubt increased the amount of photojournalism, the quality, but also, the demand. Where once a simple splattering of words would suffice, we (consumers of media) demand  an associated image. I use the words 'an image' lightly. It's more like 'at least one'. (Hence the rise of photo galleries online.) But how do you typically get a 'wow' image that will capture the attention of consumers...

Photoshop. There I said it. In it's defence, by itself, it's not a bad thing. Mostly used to do the slightest tweaking in colours and levels (and other photography jargon), the average person would barely know it's there. The real issue. Digital manipulation.

Thinner waist and hips, skinnier thighs, no bulges, even skin tone. 

I'm not going to go into the debate here. "What is doing to our perception of beauty?" and all arguments alike. There's plenty of other blogs that go into that.

Moving pictures. Or in normal English, video.  More powerful than a single image? Debatable. But needless to say, a massive part of our media diet. And so the rise of the video journalist. A great video requires similar aspects to a photograph -framing, focus, angle, point of view, light exposure, timing- but also, considerable editing, and most importantly Capturing "The Scene". Excluding the early days, there's also a whole other dimension. But that's for next week.