What Photography Means to Me

What Does Photography Mean to Me?

           August 29 2020

Joe Seck

  "Photographs don't only show us things, they do things. They engage us optically, neurologically, intellectually, emotionally, viscerally, and physically." Marvin Heiferman, 

    When I think of photography my mind usually goes right to my father. Ever since I was young I would see him taking pictures of everything; flowers, clouds, trees, snow, anything that peaked his interest you better believe he got a picture of it. Photography gave him this freedom to do what he wanted to do. For my father photography was freedom, to me it's a way to trap a moment to remember forever. 

     Now that I am getting older I am starting to realize why. It's impossible to remember every thing you see with a camera you can trap those moments and have them whenever you want to remember something that makes you happy. Photography is an art and with art there doesn't need to be a rhyme or reason to the madness, if you want to take a picture of a vast landscape to have that moment saved you can do that. If you want to take a picture of a wall because it peaked your interest you can do that. 

    Marvin Heiferman states that photography can change the way people see things and to that I agree. An example of this is Vietnam, there were film and camera crews in Vietnam, they took pictures and videos of what was going on in the war. These images were brought back to the United States and the American people were outraged, they had heard stories of what was going on in the war but seeing actual film and pictures of it was different. They saw pain, fear, and horror on peoples faces and it didn't feel the same anymore.

     The same can be true on a less dark matter, you can hear stories on how something can be gorgeous and beautiful, but if you see a photo of it you can feel some of those feelings. Photos can be used to spread beauty, love, and positive feelings. Photos can hold a moment in which you felt happiness, love, sadness, despair, peace, and any other emotions a person can feel. Photography to me, is a tool to trap a moment that you are going to want to remember and never want to lose.

    












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