Technique: why does it matter?

Photography is a way of communication that can sometimes be considered as a form of art, just like writing. We communicate a lot through writing and photography, and even if you don’t want to write best sellers, it is highly recommended to know how to write properly because communication is so important that a man left on his own on a desert island goes mad only in a few weeks due to lack of communication. Communication is vital for us humans. There is a real need to communicate, and a need to be understood. If communicating with words seems easy to most of us, communicating through photography is more abstract and less intuitive. Yet, a photograph can tell a deep and touching story, just like a book.

An overwhelming photography

Today, photography is everywhere. You can’t wake up, check your newsfeed on social networks and go to work without seeing thousands of photographs. The average American sees around 3,000 to 20,000 advertising messages a day. It gives you an idea about how many photographs you see every day, and it’s an ever growing number. You certainly regularly take pictures yourself and upload them on the internet. It’s so easy today with smartphones, connected compact cameras, etc. You can take a picture and upload it on social networks in less than one minute and anyone anywhere in the world can see it. Think about how powerful this is.

Quality over quantity

On the other side, most snapshots you will take with your smartphone won’t tell deep stories. Snapshots are useful to show simple things like your selfie with Brad Pitt or your cat sleeping on your homework, but if you want your story to be deep and the picture to be really neat, your smartphone won’t do the job. A snapshot is to a neat photograph what ‘I love you’ is to a love poem, if you get the picture. A neat photograph has more depth and is more effective. These are the ones that stand out in the ever growing flow of pictures we see everyday, and taking pictures that stand out is like being heard even when everyone is talking at the same time. And you may have something of critical importance to say.