Let us explore the usage of photographs as a significant medium in society. Through Facebook, magazines, newspapers, or blogs, photographs speak more than one thousand words in conveying an author’s perspective. On a micro level, photographs document one’s life. On a macro level, photographs provide a tangible cultural reference point for society. When one delves into history books, most of the strongest mediums we explore are through photographs. Words can only sketch a simple image, while photographs provide a colorful, vivid illustration for the reader. Through the image, it is easier to understand the circumstances and details of the authors message.
Photographs serve as a vital force in society: they define the present, protect the past, and stimulate the future. One picture can define an individual’s life or a historical time period. For example, museum’s use this medium as a foundation for their organization. In the Museum of Modern Art, one can gaze through the pictures of artisans, fashion icons, or other historical topics. There are minimal captions at the bottom of the pictures because one usually focuses on the message the picture displays. For example, one has probably been exposed to pictures than biographies of Marilyn Monroe. Her picture alone is the source of much discussion in the American Pop Culture realm.
Through our class discussion of the telegraph, we came to the conclusion that before the invention, there was a significant lack of communication between pieces in society. This same principle can be applied to photographs: without photographs , there is a deficiency of communication between the past and the present. There is a severe lack of understanding because one does not have a visual reference point of the subject being discussed. Building upon McLuhan’s thoughts, media is not only an extension of man, but rather, is shaped meticulously through mediums. Photographs are the strongest type of medium because they convey a message without spoken language and immediately connect with a reader (as opposed to a reader reading words, then having an image formed in their head). In essence, a photograph creates its own language. A photograph can be understood by all cultures, and is mutually exclusive of nationality or native language. Viewing a picture is an experience: it evokes an emotional response which shapes our global society.
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| Martin Luther King |
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| Education in China |
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| Iraq War |
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| China Town |
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| Poverty in the 1960s |
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| The Navy |
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| Civil Rights Movement |
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| Architecture |
