(I originally Wrote This About A Month Ago While I Was On A Cruise, And Forgot About It Till Now)

For those who are passionate lovers of the medium of communication that is photography, such a title for a post is a bold imitation of Susan Sontag’s great work, the book, “On Photography.”

In reality, it is but a summation of my own personal pontifications on the subject, one of which I have a deep passion and love for.  I believed and still believe that photographs can change the world, and that they can be worth one word or thousands or even millions.

What’s more powerful about a photograph than it’s ability to be worth many many words and to communicate complexly nuanced subject matter in an instant, is that those elegant communications can be multiplied thousands upon thousands of times over, upon the eyes of every person who see’s an image.  Thus a “thousand word” photograph seen by a 1000 people is really a million word photograph… if you know what I mean.

Why Pontificate On Photography?

1. I am a photographer, and feel like it is something that I have neglected greatly over the pas few years…

2. I am on a cruise ship and feel the need to write something meaningful…

- reconnecting with Sam Abel… Sam is/was a national geographic photographer that I got to hear speak when I was about 17.  He totatly ignited my desire to be a great photographer and was largely responsible for my pursing photography so tenaciously in college.

WHen I head him speak he talked about his book: “The Photographic Life” and in that book shared his first national geographic assignemnt.  It was in Novia Scotia, where we stopped on our cruise today.

I had the chance to stop and “shoot like Sam”… below are some of the photos.

The Harbor At Peggy

The Sea Under Clouds At Peggys Cove By Andrew James

Fishing Stuff At Peggy

3. I had some powerful thoughts about it that may help you make your communication with pictures more powerful and lastingly meaningful. Here they are…

1-Q: What is the scarcest resource today? A: peoples attention

2-The most powerful and meaningful priority of a photograph: get attention, to cause people to stop and look

3-Most meaningful purpose of a photograph which has captured the attention of another? A: Cause them to ask questions that lead them to a place you want them to go…. If you can get someones attention, and cause them to ask questions, if you control the questions you can influence.  The irony in photography is that you can never control the questions, you can only hint at them… And that’s what makes it so powerful.

Now, you may choose to communicate or capture emotions and messages with specific meanings.  Specific desired outcomes in your communication.

Or

you may be one to want to communicate much like one of the 4 photographers I studied at great depth, like Diane Arbus, who said that every photograph is a secret about a secret, and the more it tells you the less you know.

There is something extremely powerful about being the source of heightened awareness and consciousness for anyone.  And while you may create images that do not necessarily answer the questions they raise, sometimes being the person to cause someone to stop and ask more questions that are more meaningful is just as important.

PONTIFICATION: DONE