what is a photo?

There are many different reasons why people take photos and as many different ways to interpret them. These are my favourite reasons and my favourite way to interpret them.

I describe myself as an emotional photographer. Whilst I am a competent technical photographer, which lays the foundation of any good image, I believe my strength comes from capturing an essence within the frame that goes beyond the technical, reaches into the viewer and grabs them on an emotional level.

I love to tell stories with my images. I believe that the power of a photo and the memory contained within it is a somewhat magical thread of frozen time, much like the pensive in Harry Potter. The photo tells a story, sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden.

Sometimes it is the photographers job to tease those hidden emotions out of the image, and sometimes this just isn't possible within the photo, so the photographer must also describe the image appropriately to accompany it ad elicit that emotional response in the viewer. The photographer becomes a guide then, to their life, or the subject they have captured. It is like asking the photograph questions.

Why was it taken?
what is it actually showing?
how does it make you feel?
Why does it make you feel like that?
What happened before the photo was taken and what happened after wards?
What memories does the photo bring to you?
what is the photos story?
who is in the image and why is that subject important?
what is in the foreground, and what is in the background, why have they been placed there?

These are some of the biggest questions I like to cover with my descriptions. The added bonus of describing an image is that for those who are unable to fully see the image with their eyes they can see it with their minds. It goes beyond the technical composition of description and tells the viewer a story.

Technical descriptions tend to answer these questions

Who is in the image, what is the subject in relation to you?
describe what they are wearing?
what are they doing?
where is the image taken?
what is in focus in the image?
What colours are predominant?
Is the image light or dark?
is there any detail that you wish to highlight?

One thing I always do though, as any good story teller must, either visually or writing, is leave room for the person to add their own interpretation, to leave enough of a gap for them to feel a personal connection to the image.
I find a real vulnerability to this, as my image is a conduit to my soul and inner most feeling and by sharing it with the world I am exposing those things alongside it. By leaving it open to be interpreted leaves it open to being misinterpreted. However, I also think that there is a beauty in this misinterpretation, as it means that the image is not only personally powerful, but collecitively so, and therefore adds to its overall power.