We all know that great photos capture a moment in time and can help tell a story. But why are some photos considered to be more powerful than others?
If you’re looking to take your photography skills to the next level, then this video is for you. By understanding the science behind powerful photos, you’ll be able to create images that truly capture the essence of your subject. With this knowledge at your fingertips, you’ll be able to create images that will truly stand out!
00:00 The Most Powerful Photos Ever?
01:41 Powerful Photo vs Good Photo
02:31 Life Magazine 100 Most Powerful Photos
05:08 The Family Of Man – Powerful, Unexpected
07:32 Emotion is powerful
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Comments
29 responses to “Why Does The Web Think This Is A Powerful Image?”
What is the photo that is most powerful for you from this video?
For me it's the kids hand in hand by Gene Smith – I must be getting schmaltzy in my advancing years 😀
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And sometimes, the lowest quality image – in this case – James Bulger being abducted by Thompson and Venables (holding Bulger's hand) in an image recorded on shopping centre CCTV is the most haunting image I’ve seen. Why? Because we found out two days later that two year old James was beaten and tortured to death by his two, 10 year old kidnappers.
It’s the knowledge of what happened after that renders this image as particularly galling.
What's difficult to know, as suggested, is how different things are now to always – a few great photographs have stayed with us and we look back o those photographers with respect because they are the person who took that great image. Maybe. I do think that we have become too self-conscious in photography like in everything else. We are too much lookig to take a great image rather than being so immersed in a situation that we are so in tune with what is unfolding that the photographs can't help being great. Instead, we are too often driven by what will be popular on social media, or what got a lot of likes for somebody else, or what chimes with the views of the day. And people putting together collections don't base them on photographic criteria as much as politicalo criteria. Maybe.
The front page rule is never compete with children or animals, particularly charismatic megafauna ie whales, dolphins, koalas ect.
PS. There is no greatest of all time no matter the subject.
I'm going to be a bit direct. In my opinion EVERYTHING that appears on the web has to be taken with a grain of salt. There is no editing done on any web content. As a result it could be true, false, immaterial, purposefully misleading or just dumb. Everyone needs to make an informed judgement. Especially with photography the web has become a purveyor of "sameness', 'blandness', 'averageness', etc. It forces a do the same thing because that will get likes (as if that mattered). Much better if everyone decided for themselves whether an image was powerful or not. The web should have no say.
This was such a needed video. Thank you very much.
There is only one, and you missed it. The Napalm Girl. It's changed the world, and the US has not won a war since. The American public won't stand for the brutality.
JUST a boy with a flute playing to a cat? TWEE?
Nooo, it speaks of the interconnection between species, of wonder, of innocence, of living in the moment… of everything that's best about our existence, and of a lot that we too often forget! And it's all the more profound for its simplicity, as elegantly composed as any spontaneous moment could be, with the subtle colours and the soft lighting serving the subjects just as well as the shallow depth of field. It's a revelation and an exaltation! I've wanted a massive print of it on my wall ever since I first saw it.
Incidentally, I remember checking out some more of that photographer's work, and I didn't really care for the rest of it. This one gem doesn't obviously fit in with whatever else he's doing – I think it was basically just a holiday snapshot? – but it's definitely worth being remembered for.
Art as always is very subjective, it changes from person to person, and that's fine. But the trouble with photography is that the technology is so easily accessible now that it cheapens the images itself. People take photos for granted. And with AI generation, they may even doubt the authenticity of it. As such the meaning of the photos is often tied to the legacy of the photographer than the photos itself.
Love all your videos alex. Can I make a request on your take on Daido Moriyama's style of photography? Wanna hear your opinion on it. Thanks in advance ☺️
I agree with all your examples EXCEPT ONE. The firefighter giving water to a Koala. This appeared in Australian newspapers and I bought a copy and have it hanging on my wall. The reason being: Koalas are wild animals but this was so desperate it took a drink from a human. WHY? Because they are an endangered species and its habit had been demolished by raging bushfires and most animals (and many humans) died in the flames. This Koala also suffered burns and unfortunately also died some time after this photo was published. It is a very poignant photo which in my mind makes it a powerful image to those who know the story. Perhaps some of the other photos have equally significant back-stories?
Hi Alex, I have to take issue with you on the koala image, I find it most powerful. I live in Australia and know that the county has a poor record on animal extinctions, the koala is endangered in the wild because of thoughtless farming and development practices. This koala was a victim of a bush fire, which are becoming more common because of climate change, another area where Australia has a record of inaction. Despite being a wealthy country many firefighters are voluntary. Adding this local context builds a powerful narrative for this image so I think you chose a most inappropriate example here. I find your YouTube content generally excellent and a great source of inspiration and information but I have to correct you on this one.
In the Neolithic period, I took photos of my friends in the pub with my Pentax ME and ISO 800 black/white film, with Motion blur everywhere. Those images tell me more about the time than any of the real photos I took. Take photos of the mundane because in 40 years they will be history
With respect Alex, I think that you are being a little of a snob because you don’t seem to acknowledge that a photo is usually described as being powerful because of the circumstances in which that photo was taken. The photo of the sailor kissing the lady was taken when the. End of WWII was announced; most people in western society over 45 probably know that. Yet, if your local paper, next week, ran a photo of an army guy kissing his girl at your local pub – you may look at, only to see if any of your mates are in the background.
Then, on more one occasion, you giggle/sniggger/decry a photo of a fireman giving a koala a drink; and this is because you are ignorant to the circumstances in which it was taken. You not aware of the circumstances surrounding that photo because you have the good fortune of living in a country that does have live with the threat of bushfire (aka wildfire). When you live in Australia, the threat of devastation and death from bushfire is burned into our national psyche.
In Australia, this image is considered to be a powerful photo because it was taken during one the worst bushfires in our history. This bushfire, which started 7 kilometres from my home, occurred in February 2009. It burned through 450,000 hectares (about 1.1 million acres), it destroyed over. 2000 homes and 173 people died. Countless numbers of native animals died or suffered.
The fire fighter is a volunteer, nearly all CFA fire fighters have full time jobs. Yet, they take unpaid leave from work and they leave their families, sometimes for many days, to help protect their communities. Fighting bushfire can be life-threatening work and these men and women are cherished within our community. In fact, some of our bushfires are so big and so dangerous that volunteer reinforcements come from America to help us.
Droughts, floods and bushfires teach us that Australia can be a harsh country in which to live. This photo is powerful because it was taken while that crew was travelling from one hotspot to help a crew in another hotspot. And even though these fire fighters are exhausted and probably scared, they took the time to give a dehydrated koala a drink – to give it a chance to get to safety.
This photo means nothing to you because you live in England. In Australia, this is a powerful photo because it reminds us that, even during our most harsh periods, there is always time for compassion.
The boy with the flute and the cat! Only technical problem is the streetlight(?) that should be removed. Otherwise, it has everything: composition, color, texture, bokeh and so on, as well as being soooo Rockwellian in feeling. So, big deal, it's not "classic". Or is it? If I had lotsa money, I'd pay the big bucks to hang it on my wall. And I would remember every time I looked at it, that the photographer who took it was, as Ansel Adams said once, paraphrased, the person who composed and pressed the shutter "brought to that act all the pictures he/she had seen, the books he/she had read, the music he/she had heard and the people he/she had loved." It is classic!
Wonderful and I do agree. And I surely don’t make images for other photographers to tell me if they are any good. I make images that I hope will impact people who never heard of the rule of thirds. Thanks!!
Photography just have different values. There were photos that changed people minds, marked an era. Today in the "likes" world the expectations have change.
Past images seem to catch the moment more than trying to be techniaclly perfect … 🦘
Thank you. All the best. 👍📷😎
Don McCullin's shot of the GI in PTS, is so haunting, also the shot by Nick Ut, of the Girl who suffered Napalm Burns, Ernst Haas ICM Bullfighter, and the shot by Willy Ronis of his wife at the washstand. All imprinted in my head. On your Video, it was the shot by Dorothea Lange.
You British have this most wonderful term: “twee”. Sadly, I think there is a lot of “twee” in The Family of Man. The pinnacle of twee, however, is The Walk to Paradise Garden, which I’ve heard referred to as a cross between a Hallmark card and a Hummel figurine. Smith was an undisputed master but I think I’ll stick with Spanish Wake or Tomoko in Her Bath to make the case.
The photograph of Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk, burning himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963, is a powerful photograph.
Isn't Kickvick one of those pay-per-article 'list' sites where they pay freelance writers a bare minimum for articles like "The Top 5 ways to wash a poodle"? The points you make are interesting and valid but it's more important than ever in this internet age, to look at not only what is being said but who is saying it.
Just for a bit of context. The koala is a endangered species in Australia, and that photo of the firefighting volunteer, giving the koala a drink was taken during one of the worst bushfires in Australian history. It was published in every newspaper in the country and was hugely viral on social media.
4:30 I can't help but think of "Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge by Jonathan Bachman" and his photo of Leshia Evans.
As you say; Yes it's the same thing sort of thing; Standing against oppression and the subsequent and predictable violence of the state that rains down upon anyone that would dare question it.
But I guess the same moment must be captured a million times in a million different circumstances to allow as many people as possible to eventually relate to it and finally see why this kind moment is so powerful … If not ultimately inconsequential 😢
Paintings can bring attention to light and color in ways that photographs can rarely match, yet a painting can't convincingly match the photographs ability stop time and capture a fleeting moment of humanity. In a sense, "snapshots" are the essence of photography.
I disagree that the Eugene Smith photo is schmaltzy. I think that it's full of symbolic meaning. It's also wonderfully framed. I also think that the use of toddlers and small children holding hands has been so commercialized that we've become desensitized to the purity and innocence of childhood.
New lighting setup?
I was around in the old days, There were plenty of worthless photographs and overrated photographers. Why the old stuff seems better now is because time has filtered out the dreck.