How Photography's Great Influence
Allison L. Atkenson
Mrs. Thyer
AP English
December 2011 Photography’s Great Influence Photography allows us to store, retain, and recall information. Although some feel photos produce negative images and appear fabricated, their pros outweigh the cons. We use photography every day. Photos have the ability to portray where we have been, what we have done, and our place in the world. Photographs allow us to look back on memories and events of our lives, and their significance. The majority of photography’s influence remains positive. Photography preserves memories and yields informative, emotional, and expressive reactions that words cannot convey. Photography also permits us to share our memories with those around us. As time
progresses, our memories naturally fade. When we die, our memories die with us. Photography enables us to remember and preserve past and often treasured, emotional, or historical events. People commonly use photography to reminisce and share feelings and thoughts with those not present. An article featured in LIFE magazine adequately highlights photography’s positive impact. It reads, “Among those several astonishing uses of photography the first is that it is the instrument through which we share memory” (Life Magazine). Photography can produce learning experiences to share and pass on to future generations. Photographs allow us to view events and understand their significance. We can truly feel the impact of these events when we “reach back 150 years and bring forth an instant of history” (LIFE Magazine). History books remain an ideal example of this concept. Although you may not have lived during the Great Depression in 1929, with the aid of photography, we can feel the impact it had on citizens and the country. Through viewing these photographs, we can better comprehend the appalling effects of the stock market’s crash. Photographs of this type have recorded past wars, its glories, its horrors, and its injustices. Photographs preserve our memories and provide us with the miraculous ability to gaze into the past. We can visualize past events, empathize with the subjects in a photograph, and can learn about others and ourselves. A widely known adage states a picture can mimic a thousand words. Photographs can easily convey feelings and ideas effectively and immediately. A photograph can provide instant understanding of an event that may require many written sentences to equally describe. In the article “Shadow Catcher”, Momaday experiences this principle when he gazed at a picture of a famous Indian chief, “In the face of such a man as Slow Bull, for example, there seemed etched the very principle of the warrior ideal: bravery, steadfastness, generosity, and virtue” (Momaday). Through a single image of a man, Momaday could understand and learn so much. Photography, viewed through the human eye aptly reveals feelings and comprehension that mere words cannot easily depict. In Andy Grundberg’s article, he writes, “pictures are fabricated and are produced only to serve specific ends” (Grundberg). Though a number of photos may indeed appear altered and deceptive, photography also possesses the remarkable ability to display tremendous truth. Even a fabricated moment allows us to go back into time and experience moments we could not otherwise express. Grundberg also claims, “Photographs are instruments of bias” (Grundberg)., However, many circumstances of media bias can be discredited, refuted, and exposed with the aid of photography. Technology has allowed us to extend memories in the form of photographs with individuals throughout the world. Its growing influence can educate and inform, record and preserve. Photography exists as a method of keeping and sharing memories. Photos have the potential to accurately illustrate events, life styles, cultures and places in war and peace. Photography’s impact, often powerful, can serve as an immediate media that people may use to receive information about events, cherish memories, and convey thoughts and feelings in a single moment.
Mrs. Thyer
AP English
December 2011 Photography’s Great Influence Photography allows us to store, retain, and recall information. Although some feel photos produce negative images and appear fabricated, their pros outweigh the cons. We use photography every day. Photos have the ability to portray where we have been, what we have done, and our place in the world. Photographs allow us to look back on memories and events of our lives, and their significance. The majority of photography’s influence remains positive. Photography preserves memories and yields informative, emotional, and expressive reactions that words cannot convey. Photography also permits us to share our memories with those around us. As time
progresses, our memories naturally fade. When we die, our memories die with us. Photography enables us to remember and preserve past and often treasured, emotional, or historical events. People commonly use photography to reminisce and share feelings and thoughts with those not present. An article featured in LIFE magazine adequately highlights photography’s positive impact. It reads, “Among those several astonishing uses of photography the first is that it is the instrument through which we share memory” (Life Magazine). Photography can produce learning experiences to share and pass on to future generations. Photographs allow us to view events and understand their significance. We can truly feel the impact of these events when we “reach back 150 years and bring forth an instant of history” (LIFE Magazine). History books remain an ideal example of this concept. Although you may not have lived during the Great Depression in 1929, with the aid of photography, we can feel the impact it had on citizens and the country. Through viewing these photographs, we can better comprehend the appalling effects of the stock market’s crash. Photographs of this type have recorded past wars, its glories, its horrors, and its injustices. Photographs preserve our memories and provide us with the miraculous ability to gaze into the past. We can visualize past events, empathize with the subjects in a photograph, and can learn about others and ourselves. A widely known adage states a picture can mimic a thousand words. Photographs can easily convey feelings and ideas effectively and immediately. A photograph can provide instant understanding of an event that may require many written sentences to equally describe. In the article “Shadow Catcher”, Momaday experiences this principle when he gazed at a picture of a famous Indian chief, “In the face of such a man as Slow Bull, for example, there seemed etched the very principle of the warrior ideal: bravery, steadfastness, generosity, and virtue” (Momaday). Through a single image of a man, Momaday could understand and learn so much. Photography, viewed through the human eye aptly reveals feelings and comprehension that mere words cannot easily depict. In Andy Grundberg’s article, he writes, “pictures are fabricated and are produced only to serve specific ends” (Grundberg). Though a number of photos may indeed appear altered and deceptive, photography also possesses the remarkable ability to display tremendous truth. Even a fabricated moment allows us to go back into time and experience moments we could not otherwise express. Grundberg also claims, “Photographs are instruments of bias” (Grundberg)., However, many circumstances of media bias can be discredited, refuted, and exposed with the aid of photography. Technology has allowed us to extend memories in the form of photographs with individuals throughout the world. Its growing influence can educate and inform, record and preserve. Photography exists as a method of keeping and sharing memories. Photos have the potential to accurately illustrate events, life styles, cultures and places in war and peace. Photography’s impact, often powerful, can serve as an immediate media that people may use to receive information about events, cherish memories, and convey thoughts and feelings in a single moment.