I listened to a group discuss a photograph. The reaction to this shot ranged from interest to ambivalence, emotional to critical. On one hand the picture was beautiful, but some did not see anything exceptional. It was clear that the photograph was talking to some and not to others! The challenge question was one of the point.
“What is the point of the photograph? Does it only speak to one who is able to hear?”
I question triggered a long and slow reflection. What is the point if only those able to hear can hear? The answers to my reflection so far include the following.
If even only one can hear, the photograph has served its purpose. From what I can see, there is no exclusivity implied or suggested by a photograph. The potential impact of the voice in each picture is available to all. In this case, some did not hear. That is ok; the voice is still speaking without reservation.
Pictures do not silence each other. Each picture stands on its own. At the same time, pictures can complement, challenge, and complete the other. I have come to think of a picture as a slice in time that was experienced by one or another. In sharing, we are giving freely of our life to another.
Pictures always speak, even when I do not hear or understand what I am hearing. The possibilities of discovery are as profound in the mundane as they are in the profound. Often it is in the quiet small things of life that we find a connection with what is greater. In being open to the possibility, I find myself hearing new voices.
In looking at a photograph, it is helpful to remember that each is part of a whole. Together, the greater picture led the psalmist to ask, “who can compare with God, our God, so majestically enthroned.” (Psalm 113.5)
I love seeing the bigger picture; the story told by the different views. Each photograph takes me towards this goal. It is an ongoing journey I hope never stops.
