The Importance of Photography

A lot of the time I take photos selfishly. I take photographs for my own pleasure: I see something that catches my eye, take a great photo, share said photo on social media, get a lot of love and feel awesome. There are times when I even make a little money out of it. So, many times I go out into the world aiming my lens thoughtlessly at people, mountains, sunsets and buildings. Sometimes I wonder: are we always aware of the real worth of what we are doing?

Photographs record events and lives. When a parent passes away, for example, a yellowed portrait suddenly becomes one of the most valuable possessions their loved ones will own. Photographs also record moments from history, ways of looking at things and ways of thinking about them. In years to come, they will be of value in various ways to an array of people. With modernization changing cultures and customs, photographs play an important role in preserving them and, in some way, keeping them alive. Fifty years from now, young children will be admiring grandma and grandpa’s wedding album, able to see how they lived, loved, and wanted their wedding day to be remembered.

Photographs are powerful, and as photographers we have the honor of using this wonderful power not only to record slices of history but also to move people. While you might never change the world with your images, you can make a difference in the life of someone else, be it by giving an old man a photograph of himself to be proud of or by lifting the spirits of a depressed city dweller with a beautiful landscape. By remembering this, we might actually bring out the best in each photograph that we take. We might be pushed to take greater care in what we do and give the best possible version of each photograph to the world.

These thoughts linger in my mind with every click of the shutter. To take meaningful photographs, we should all aim to give back to the world, and only in this process should we be getting something out of our photography.