Photo Philosophy

Imagine looking through photos and seeing a nice looking picture of a family in a field posing and smiling at the camera. What do you think when you see this photo? Well that's an idyllic field! but probably has nothing to do with the subjects, they just drove there to take pictures. And a nicely dressed family smiling, and it looks like their life is perfect. Nice photo, but once that is taken in you'll probably want to move on. But wait, the next photo portrays the same thing! Perhaps a bit different pose, but still depicts a smiling and happy family with a beautiful background. And the next one, and the next one, until you find you are quite bored looking through what are now quite empty photographs.

Humans are hardwired to read a scene. we see something, and we make inferences to try to understand it the best we can.

And photos are like small stories that present to us a scene!

And if the scene has enough content, you will feel compelled to dig in and uncover information.

what is happening in this image?

What are the relationships between the people?

Why is he giving her that look?

Perhaps that is their house in the background?

They are holding paint brushes. They are painting as a family!

The kids however are painting on the moms arm.

The kids appear to be working together as a team in this mischief!

It looks like this family is very cohesive!

When others see, or when you yourself look back at your photos (because that is what they are for, right?) what do you want them to see? How about a true snapshot of the in depth lives of those within the photos.