Imagery, and in particular photography, is a powerful medium when it comes to presenting information to the public. Articles, books and essays contain the words, arguments and rationalisations, but there is a certain impact that can only be obtained with an image (think of the old saying, a picture tells a thousand words). In our culture though, we are exposed to hundreds of images daily- catalogues, the internet, books, billboards, advertisements and TV just to name a few sources- which then raises the question of how to get an image with an important message noticed?
Do photographs need to be visually pleasing or attractive to make an impact? Or does it take shock value for people to stop and look and take heed?
Essentially, photography is an in-your-face medium, in that it takes a scene, a place or a person far removed from our own world and ideals, and it places this image right in front of our eyes. We don't need to visit a war-torn country to see the horrors and atrocities occurring, nor do we need to breathe in the polluted smog in an overdeveloped city to see how it affects resident's lives. These images are delivered to us in the comfort of our own homes.
With accessibility brought on with the use of photography, there is also a risk of de-sentitisation through constant exposure... it can become overwhelming, in which case it is easy to just turn off your television, close the newspaper or navigate away from a news website.
Competing with so much media and information, if a photograph is to be used to raise awareness of a particular image, there needs to be an element in it that will make people stop and look, for longer than half a second. There is no scientific formula or guideline to make this happen; it may be a beautifully composed and shot photograph, an emotionally shocking or appealing subject, an image that has been cleverly digitally enhanced or a photo that shows the scale of an issue, that connects with people.
One image that had recent resonance with me was a photograph of the last known Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) in captivity almost a hundred years ago. I encountered this image in Tasmania's Wilderness Gallery, as part of a thylacine exhibit. To me, this image was heavy with context and meaning... in the exhibit there is a rug made of Tasmanian tiger pelts, a dwindling register of bounties paid for Tasmanian tiger culls, and footage of the last known tiger in captivity in which you could see it's strange build, looking much like a cross between a wallaby and a dog.
Do photographs need to be visually pleasing or attractive to make an impact? Or does it take shock value for people to stop and look and take heed?
Essentially, photography is an in-your-face medium, in that it takes a scene, a place or a person far removed from our own world and ideals, and it places this image right in front of our eyes. We don't need to visit a war-torn country to see the horrors and atrocities occurring, nor do we need to breathe in the polluted smog in an overdeveloped city to see how it affects resident's lives. These images are delivered to us in the comfort of our own homes.
With accessibility brought on with the use of photography, there is also a risk of de-sentitisation through constant exposure... it can become overwhelming, in which case it is easy to just turn off your television, close the newspaper or navigate away from a news website.
Competing with so much media and information, if a photograph is to be used to raise awareness of a particular image, there needs to be an element in it that will make people stop and look, for longer than half a second. There is no scientific formula or guideline to make this happen; it may be a beautifully composed and shot photograph, an emotionally shocking or appealing subject, an image that has been cleverly digitally enhanced or a photo that shows the scale of an issue, that connects with people.
One image that had recent resonance with me was a photograph of the last known Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) in captivity almost a hundred years ago. I encountered this image in Tasmania's Wilderness Gallery, as part of a thylacine exhibit. To me, this image was heavy with context and meaning... in the exhibit there is a rug made of Tasmanian tiger pelts, a dwindling register of bounties paid for Tasmanian tiger culls, and footage of the last known tiger in captivity in which you could see it's strange build, looking much like a cross between a wallaby and a dog.
The last Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), a female about 12 years old, which died in 1936.
The image was made all the more poignant being displayed alongside photographs of proud men and families, showing off their "kill".
The last known wild Tasmanian Tiger was killed by a farmer called Wilf Batty when he shot it outside his henhouse in 1930.
As a cause of human actions, there are no Tasmanian tigers remaining in the world... we managed to wipe out an entire species in just a few short years.
The effect this tragedy personally had on me was to raise my awareness of how we as humans are the most destructive force on the Earth.
A biologist, E.O. Wilson, wrote that "The pattern of human population growth in the twentieth century was more bacterial than primate" (National Geographic March 2011)
This is a frightening statement, but the notion is even more shocking when presented visually;
Vista Aerea de la Ciudad de Mexico XIII
Ciudad de México, 2006
I came across the image below in a National Geographic magazine.
The caption reads: "The ship sturgeon is near extinction, and it's already gone from the Aral Sea; water diversion for cotton farming reduced what was once the world's fourth largest lake to a dust bowl. In the past half billion years asteroid impacts and other natural events have caused five catastrophic mass extinctions of plants and animals. Humans may be causing a sixth."
It is an extremely powerful and scary message, however what made me stop and read the information was the visually appealing qualities of the photograph. The colours, lighting and composition made what could have been a very dull subject, into something beautiful and intriguing.
Another way to get the public's attention to an issue that has such a large scale environmental toll, is to show the human impact of our destruction. the image below is of Chinese fisherman Wang Zi Qing, 60 years old, showing his scar from where he had a stomach tumour removed. The tumour is was thought to be caused by polluted water.
"Theoretical" issues such as climate change and our impact on the Earth become hard and fast facts when we see photographic evidence, they are therefore harder to ignore.
It is often the affluent countries and societies making the biggest impact on the environment: consumption leads to deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions and pollution. These effects are then felt the hardest in communities who are losing their farming land, suffering the wild weather, and drinking the poisoned water.
I believe then a change needs to come from the grass roots level- raising awareness will open people's eyes, and with enough voices we can put pressure on governments to make some changes and curb our destruction.
Image credits:
1)
Tasmanian Tiger
Information and pictures of the Tasmanian Wolf or Thylacine
1)
Tasmanian Tiger
Information and pictures of the Tasmanian Wolf or Thylacine
Copyright© TasmaniaTrip.com. All rights reserved.
http://www.tasmaniatrip.com/image-files/tasmanianwolf.jpg
http://www.tasmaniatrip.com/image-files/tasmanianwolf.jpg
2)
Tiger or not, they're photos to thrill
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/03/01/tasmanian_tiger_wideweb__430x305.jpg
3)
The Sixth Mass Extinction
Carolyn Drake
Museum of History, Aralsk, Kazakhstan
National Geographic, March 2011
4)
Vista Aerea de la Ciudad de Mexico XIII
Ciudad de México, 2006
Pablo Lopez Luz
http://www.pablolopezluz.com/index.html
5)
Wang Zi Qing, 60
Photograph by Stephen Voss
What Matters: the world's preeminent photojournalists and thinkers depict essential issues of our time
Sterling Publishing 2008
New York
Tiger or not, they're photos to thrill
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/03/01/tasmanian_tiger_wideweb__430x305.jpg
3)
The Sixth Mass Extinction
Carolyn Drake
Museum of History, Aralsk, Kazakhstan
National Geographic, March 2011
4)
Vista Aerea de la Ciudad de Mexico XIII
Ciudad de México, 2006
Pablo Lopez Luz
http://www.pablolopezluz.com/index.html
5)
Wang Zi Qing, 60
Photograph by Stephen Voss
What Matters: the world's preeminent photojournalists and thinkers depict essential issues of our time
Sterling Publishing 2008
New York
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