I believe…..in using pictures to tell stories instead of that other method known as writing. Whoever it was that coined the phrase, “A picture says 1000 words,” sure knew what they were talking about.
I suppose I am probably somewhat bias, considering that if I had a profession, photography would likely be it. I mean who would actually choose to read 100,000 words when you could just gaze at 100 photographs? Not me, I’ll tell you that much!
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been the person who flips through the magazine and just looks at the pictures without reading much of anything. Sometimes I will read part of an article, but rarely all of it. Pathetically lazy perhaps, but I’m content with it. I must concede that I will usually, though not always, read the captions that go along with the pictures. I will also admit that photographs that are used to tell a story often require a brief caption to give the viewer a better idea of what the photograph includes. However, a truly great photograph can tell the complete story without a single word.
I’ve had my phases where I’ve been maybe somewhat of an avid reader. To be perfectly honest with you though, I just don’t think I have the patience to be a big reader; especially when the reading is not very interesting to me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reading something for a class or, (dare I say) even reading the Bible, and have ended up falling asleep . . . and sometimes drooling.
I could describe to you in words about my brother’s desk that I am typing this on right now. But I don’t know how long or how many words would be needed to accurately describe how this desk looks and how cluttered it is. So I took a picture of it.
From this single picture, there is so much information one can gather. And it can be done so much quicker than it would’ve taken to read a written description.
Taking pictures of The January 2007 World Race will be my main job or ministry for this upcoming year. My goal is to take pictures that document and tell the stories of the people and places that we encounter. I would ultimately like my photos to have as positive of a mood as possible. I believe that God has given me a gift with photography. And I’m going to use it to tell friends, family and anyone else in the world that will see it about what we will be doing and about how God is working throughout the world.
This “I Believe…” essay was an assignment that every World Racer is encouraged to do. It is part of a 4 week workshop thing that we are doing to train us to become better writers/bloggers.
I was trying to think of a topic to write about. I was going to go with something about ‘living life to the full, taking risks and not being complacent.’ Then I was thinking of writing about the importance of laughter and a sense of humor in life. So, those topics were in the running, but photography was victorious! Mu ha ha ha!
