Devin Cooper Mrs.

Neumeister English Language and Composition AP 14 April 2013 Photography and Understanding Photography provides at the fingertips of every man and woman, access to images which allow an individually to connect with events on a personal level and allows, a truer, deeper understanding. Since the invention of the camera, photography has been used to as a medium of expression to transcend written word, and engulf those who might look at a simple picture in an embrace of emotions and human understanding that comes from seeing first hand, what words only tell. Words, in their essence, are cold, harsh, and mechanical. They are but twenty six letters rearranged a thousand times over on a single page, whereas no two pictures are identical. Photography is the embraces emotion, and warmth, and the fluidity of life and change. Photography, in its purest, most unbiased form, enhances understanding because of the enhanced meaning and magnitude that pictures add to written word.. From 1933 until 1945, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, systematically killed nearly 6,000,000 European Jews. That number alone, six million, is just that: a number. A number carries little meaning behind it, but the magnitude of each and every one of those six million deaths can be conveyed in a single picture. In that one instant, a photographer can capture the pain and anguish of an entire culture. In that one moment, a photographer can convey the atrocities of an entire regime. In that one

photograph, a photographer can tell the stories of people who couldnt say a word about what was happening to them. In order to fully understand a situation or idea, an individual must understand the pathos, ethos and logos behind it. All too often in the written words, authors ignore pathos and rely solely on ethos and logos. Pathos, the emotional appeal of an argument, is inextricably bound to photography. While some authors might be able to effectively use pathos in written words, photography. Some say however, that photography will be biased and does not present the entire picture, just a moment in time. But this is simply not true. Yes bias may be present, but rather than detracting from an individuals understanding of a situation, it only enhances it. For every man and woman, it is their responsibility to understand that bias and to look past it. Even though photography has the capability to be biased, pictures are inextricably bound to our understanding of our world. With just a single moment in time, a photographer can show the meaning of written words, in ideas that can never be put on a page. In every single photograph lies the deepest truth of life: that moments are fleeting, but every moment of our past will guide us in the moments of our future.