it’s not about the power of the camera

by Brian Dressler Photography, Inc.

Volume 1 / Issue 3

“A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door the host said, ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then, ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.’”   Sam Haskins (1926-2009) Photographer

it’s about the power of perspective For years I’ve been distraught over our society’s declining visual acuity. When folks demanded “my MTV” and were subsequently assailed by 10+ flashing images per second, it seemed that anything that kept the consumer glued to the screen was acceptable. Add the sheer volume of cell phone captures and the proliferation of snapshots to the borage of photographic flotsam, and I find myself in a battle over whether or not professionals in other fields are being “dumbed down” when it comes to their visual literacy. Why do I care? Why do I care if the public cares? Simply put, it matters. The saying “ignorance is bliss” may work if you’re trying to avoid stepping on the scale or checking up on your child’s grades, but for folks who operate a business--especially one that relies on photography to showcase projects, products, or persona and communicate brand identity--what you don’t know can hurt.   it’s about the power of the picture Hewlett-Packard, a world leader in imaging and printing products and a market leader in photo-realistic printing and digital photography, is an authority on the power of visual communication and has set out to educate the world-at-large about why the quality of the images we use is even more important than the words we use.  According to HP’s “Power of Visual Communication,” a report of research findings in the area of visual presentations and their effect on audience, the images you use command a presence in the viewer’s long-term memory, and the findings suggest that the more visual content that you can incorporate into your presentation or website, the more likely it will be that the viewer will retain those pictorial concepts of who you are--identity is what people will construct-- and remember. This begs the question: In viewing the current photos associated with your company, what are your potential customers recalling as your identity? And, how’s that working for you?

From the studies, HP compiled the following evidence supporting the power of the visual: The psychologist Jerome Bruner of New York University has described studies that show that people only remember 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read, but about 80% of what they see and do.   Training materials used by the federal government cite studies indicating that the retention of information three days after a meeting or other event is six times greater when information is presented by visual and oral means than when the information is presented by the spoken word alone. The same materials also cite studies by educational researchers suggesting that 83% of human learning occurs visually.   Researchers at the Wharton School of Business compared visual presentations and purely verbal presentations and found that presenters using visual language were considered more persuasive by their audiences, 67% of whom felt that presenters who combined visual and verbal components were most persuasive.   it’s about the power of perception According to Brian Kennedy, an authority on the importance of visual literacy and its impact on society, all the information that we take in is 90% visual, and we can read non-text 60,000 times faster than text. Given that you only get one chance to make a first impression, the photographs you choose will be what resonates as the lasting impression a visitor to your website or “reader” of your printed ads associates with your business. Now, more than ever, pictures and perception lead consumers to make choices based upon what they see more than what they read.   it’s about the power of the professional Although I may not be able to control the rate by which we are bombarded with instant images, I can control the quality of the professional images that my experience and knowledge have repeatedly produced in a wide array of areas: portrait photography, architectural photography, specialty product photography, on-site and staged photo shoots, as well as community, corporate, and political special-event photography. When the cell-phone paparazzi have plugged their devices in to recharge, or the thousands of “I almost got it” photo opportunities have passed, and the “that will have to do” pictures have been downloaded by your artsy friend who volunteered to capture your latest building project or your new product line, one clear, resonating image will linger in the mind of a potential client--and I certainly hope it’s the one that best represents you.