Why I fell in love with photography?

“A picture is worth a thousand words”. I used to continuously believe in this statement with a grounded belief that one picture can transmit the intended meaning and generate the required feelings towards an event, action, or person much more than a long beautifully crafted article can do. This is simply because I believe humans are bound to be attracted more quickly and connect easier to visuals than words and text. And we’ve all seen how the media started to be more powerful and impactful after the evolution of photography. Photos of wars and what agonies, miseries, and heartbreaking feelings it unmercifully portrays moving people’s hearts and emotions to want to act upon what’s happening. We’ve seen lately through social media how one picture of children suffering in Syria- regardless of people acting upon it or not by taking action to improve things- have created a buzz and connected people’s hearts and souls to the agony in Syria with at least half of them praying to God to mercifully free this country from the miseries they are facing. If I continue talking here, I can write articles and articles about the impact of photography and its relation with media, yet, the objective of this piece is a personal reflection about my lately developed connection with photos that fuelled my engine for falling in love with the art of photography.

Pictures are vital in delivering the hidden truth all over the world, to create awareness of World’s miseries as well as joyful moments and good deeds people are doing everywhere. But adding to this, I deeply see that the worth of a picture is in the memories it brings back to every one of us. I wasn’t a big fan of taking pictures of myself and others till the last couple of years when I realized how pictures are almost the sole tangible rewind button that can get you back to a memory in a glimpse of a second.

Close your eyes for a second and try to remember the last time you desperately were longing to someone you miss due to whatever life circumstances that separated you, whether death, travelling, or even chosen separation from your ends…..no matter the reason you are apart, you’ll long to those days that got you together one day with their pains and joys. You’ll find yourself fetching for those pictures that witnessed your shared moments together and by just one look, it takes you back to those days in a surprisingly stunning way that might immerse some people so much in it to the extent of even generating the same feelings they had when this picture was captured no matter the number of years separating them from this memory!

For others, pictures can be a kind reminder of their life accomplishments generating more hope in them and boosting their self-confidence reminding them of their strengths and success, whispering in their hearts a reminder to celebrate their success and keep going no matter how life took them down. As a personal experience, I sometimes felt some pictures spoke to me, I could hear them saying “Remember? you won this competition. You made your way to the top of this career ladder. You earned this cup during graduation. You were selected as the employee of the year….etc”. Those memories push me to take a new step confidently knowing that GOD will guide me as HE did during all the past years with those pictures standing up there in front of me as a witness and reminder to my wrecked memory that tends to forget all its success and blessings when everything crashes down in front of it.

Pictures act as a life marking calendar for our journey in life ever since the day we were born recording every moment, year, and event. You see yourself and then your kids growing year after year, scoring success, going through silly funny moments, capturing key life events from graduations, weddings, having your first baby…etc. all scoring a spot in your heart that will keep engraving deeper and deeper in yourself with every look in that picture capturing it.

So try to capture every moment of joy & success. Take more photos with the ones you love. Train your camera to steal the unique moments of nature to always be a witness and reminder for you of the beauty and magnificence of the Creator, those moments of the sun diving into the sea during sunset or breathing into the morning breeze from behind a mountain during sunrise. Record those moments of animals/birds interacting with their youngsters, of poor people trying to serve the needs of their kids by working hard in daytime to meet their duties. Capture laughs of people sharing happy moments and screams of kids joyfully playing together. Record the first tear of a dad holding his daughter’s hand as a bride to take her to her new man, the smile of a groom seeing his bride on their wedding day for the first time, the look of a mother & father seeing their first newborn…etc.

Yes, I want to learn photography and get more into it to learn how to see the world through the lens of beauty, to perceive it from the non-judgmental lens that just capture things as is with no assumptions or judgments, just moments at their natural spontaneous state.

And nothing more beautiful to leave you with, dear readers but a lovely quote i captured from the News Museum in Washington D.C.- USA to remind us of the power a good picture can have. “If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture”.