Photography is such a powerful medium that leave one breathless with admiration. What is in it that captured images inspire us beyond words, beyond our imagination and beyond expectations? Since its invention, the camera has become one of the most powerful medium in mass communication especially in the print and broadcast media. Photography enables us to see beyond what the human eyes sometimes does not see and what the human heart at times does not feel. Just by staring at a captured image, we are transported to the place where at times, our presence puts us in great danger. Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile is a proof to that, that until now, we are left wondering what is behind that smile.
Photography has dramatically changed our lives especially in terms press freedom and public education. Some powerful images of hunger, disease, injustice, poverty calamities, success and winning captured spoke to the entire world and gained international concern.
Remember the poster of Uncle Sam wearing a white hat with stars urging American men aged 18 and above to join the US Army for World War I? The impact was so powerful that even young boys in their teen-age years would have joined the army. The poster was so simple, yet it has evoked an unquestionable sense of nationalism even among young boys.
Pictures of emaciated Somali kids eating animal dung captured the entire world's heart and moved us to grief, thus the World Food Program, the International Red Cross and World Food Program Ambassadors, the UN and the UNICEF are doing their food campaign to generate funds to stop world hunger. Some Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore are donating a large sum of their income to charities.
Operation Desert Storm wouldn't have gained American attention worldwide if not for courageous photographers. Outraged parents began questioning the Bush Administration for the sincerity of its concern over war-stricken Middle East countries upon seeing pictures of their sons' plight, sleeping or hiding over makeshift bunkers under the heat of the desert sun waiting for gunfire.
However we may see it, photography's power and influence, without a doubt, has definitely changed the way we analyze the events around us and the way we predict and see the future and the way we see the world in general.
If you are fighting for a cause, then let pictures speak on your behalf. If you want the whole world to know your ancestry, hang that family portrait on your wall and let it speak the honor your ancestors has brought for your country.
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