A Picture Says A Thousand Words — The Power of a Single Image
Our minds have entered an era of information. We are constantly bombarded by imagery, like an onslaught of water, that has broken down the floodgates and poured its way into our minds. Every day, the mind processes thousands of images, from those on the screen in your pocket to images from social media, to simple observations of our everyday surroundings. The mind constantly takes in visual stimulation from the outside world and processes it in new and unique ways. A few images stick out, stay fresh in our minds, and lead us to make novel connections about the way we perceive the world. These are the influential ones. These top-tier images penetrate our perceptions and uproot our psychological foundations. These are the reminders of the extraordinary power of visual communication, all nicely framed and amassed together into a single still frame.
Think about this. How many images would you guess have been taken since the inception of photography? The first photo is collectively considered to have been captured in 1826. That’s 195 years of photography. That leads to a collective archive of photographs, I would ponder, well into the billions. Is it possible to decide that a single image amidst this immense archive of still frames could be deemed history’s “most influential”? Well, there is undoubtedly one photo we can make a case for.
