Photography keeps life
By Ali Kakadezfuli
Managing Director
Between audio, video and photo, the last is definitely the most powerful format for capturing the moment. It is only through photography that the “moment” becomes meaningful. In audio and video formats, what is recorded is the flow of moments, but in the photo, only a single moment survives.
A photo anchors us in a specific moment. In a photo, we see the image of a moment in time, yet, what we get out of it is not just that moment, but a world of concepts. We enter a place where time stands still, but the meaning is always alive and giving birth.
A photo is silent, but it speaks with its audience. Each photo creates a unique dialogue with each different audience. Neither does the photographer die, nor does the meaning that is embedded in the photo.
In a frame, a photograph not only carries a subject, but also bears the presence of the photographer. Perhaps the reason a photo is always alive is that the point at which the photographer stands is unique. The photographer steps aside and invites us to look at the world through their eyes for a moment. What a photographer sees in the viewfinder is not the only thing we see. At that instant, we can touch the photographer’s whole being, all his or her mental sequences and even their feelings and emotions.
Photographers take us into their world through their cameras, so that we exist in their place and we are living in their bodies. In this sense, perhaps they are the most selfless individuals in the world at that moment. Every photograph is the artist’s world when they give it to us, as described by Susan Sontag.
Photos are not only a window to the past. They are reminders to face the future better; a reminder not to forget our roots and, of course, our sufferings. Facing the sufferings of the past may not be a pleasant thing at first glance, but until we recognize our sufferings, we will not try to reduce them, and we will not live a better life.
So the photographer has a great mission, one that is more difficult than all the physical challenges of their work. World Photography Day is an opportunity to take a deeper look at photos and appreciate those who capture the most precious moments forever.
alive