Photography is a means of expression; it is the language of love and beauty. Photography captures universality and speaks to the heart. From speaking volumes to keeping silent, photographs are the work of magic. It garners a popular response irrespective of what element captures the appeal, the permanence, beauty, or memorability.
The Magical Craft Of Photography!
Photographers are the people who bring attention to what is quietly waiting, which can go unnoticed. Often risking their lives, photographers show us what needs to be seen, tell us what needs to be heard, and convey what needs to be known.
Many of us like clicking pictures, our gallery is full of hundreds or even thousands of photographs, yet we are no photographers. What separates a photographer from everyone is that everyone clicks pictures; they capture moments.
Every picture they click is a reflection of their inner world: a means to express themselves. Just like an artist would paint the things explaining the beauty of the ordinary we missed to appreciate, a photographer captures stories with a “look again” message in them. They perfectly know how to shed light upon the simplest things and yet manage to tell stories about those things we never could see with our usual sights.
We get to know about different people, places, and events from the other side of the Universe just because of the efforts of that one passionate wanderer out there capturing it all.
Looking Through The Lens Into The Past!
The first permanent photograph, The view from the Window at Le Gras, was captured by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, 1826 (some sources say 1827) in France. We have come a long way since.
Today we can capture colors that are beyond the vision of the human eye. One can capture wavelengths, including U.V., infrared, and radio, with the right instrument.
It was Eastman Kodak who popularized colorful pictures with his “Kodachrome” film in the 1930s. Before this, people used specialized techniques to capture colored photographs.
There are some fascinating galleries from the 1800s and early 1900s which have these unique colored photographs.
Cataloging The History Of Emotions!
Photographs play a vital role in history. The reason the art of clicking pictures got popularized as capturing emotions is that it speaks of the sentiments, cultures, and societal norms of the time to which the photograph belongs. Looking at a picture is like time traveling, experiencing the same things, living with those people, and being present in those events.
Looking at pictures from the freedom movement, we feel proud of seeing our soldiers, and we are filled with rage when we see the photographs of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
The fascinating and ahead of their time pictures by Elisabeth Hase from the time of Nazi Germany are still startling and haven’t lost their powers.
It was a photograph of the Buddhist Monk Quang Duc’s self-immolation that made Ngo Dinh Diem’s (the Prime Minister of South Vietnam) cruelty on the community crystal clear. It filled the Vietnamese people with so much courage that they fought their emperor and freed themselves.
Photography, as an expression of art, continues to exist and evolve. Knowledge is one thing that expands when it is shared. It is beautiful how the past inspires the innovation and philosophy of the future to come. As the innovators and philosophers of today, we must keep alive the art of photography as a road map for the future generation to grow alongside.
Photography is the art that keeps the past alive and thriving. In capturing the moments of today, we create the legacy for posterity to depend on.
