Life Photography

!±8± Life Photography

How must have the world looked like today had Photography not been invented? How could we have preserved the memory of our ancestors without the photographic portraits on walls of ancestral homes? How should we be able to remember the face of a fiancée or fiancé living in a far-away land? What could have been used as tools in lieu of photographs to help solve crimes? What could have been used as instructional media now represented by photographs? These and many more questions you and I ask because we have known and grown in a world that has the wonderful magic of photography amidst us. There would have been no such questions if the world never had photography in its bosom. The world would have looked differently without that window you view it through from behind a camera.

Putting Photography in such context makes us learn to appreciate its presence in our lives. We would have learned to respect and value photographs which we now normally throw carelessly around. We would have really learned to use the camera and take good care of it as if it was some treasure or precious jewellery we wrap in soft velvet and store in safes where we place valuables. We would not have taken the camera and photographs for granted. We would have thanked God for the inventors and innovators He blessed us with for giving us the gift of Photography.

Let us list down the reasons why we should be thankful for that gift.

· Preservation of the memories of our ancestors and the "moments of our lives" in photos

· Photographic representation of history that enhances the emotion and vividness of events more that words can do

· The clues that photographs offer as they are clear and "drawn-to-scale" pictures of evidence that lead to solution of crimes

· Effective as instructional media as they clearly portray images that need to be scrutinised and studied by pupils even to the smallest details such as facial expression, minute arrangement of blood vessel network or the cross-section of a body organ

· Photography offers soul-soothing pictures of nature in wild animals and breath-taking landscapes

· As videography forms part of the Photography industry, its benefits and contributions enhance our appreciation of things and events in our lives

o Makes us relive the melancholy and nostalgia in sad and forgotten events

o Brings back the laughter we experienced in funny events during birthday parties, stag parties or shower parties, etc.

o Documentary filming of demonstrations, skirmishes or wars

o Video clips of important celebrations, etc.

There are hundreds more reasons why we should revel in the gift of Photography. And we are only talking of Photography. There is more out there in the real world that we should be thankful for.

Go out and greet the world! Celebrate life!