We live in interesting times. Technology is accelerating the development of civilization at an exponential pace. More and more of us have access to some of the most advanced imaging tools ever made – which is why we, as photographers, have a huge role to play as the societies we live in evolve.
Evolution isn’t always pretty; in its most naked expression, it is the act of destroying things that are no longer suitable for the environment in which they find themselves. Ones that make it have the chance to shape the world that greets them on the other side.
The most impactful and iconic photographers have one key thing in common: they challenge the world to evolve by seeing it at critical moments in time. Epoch moments move governments and populations into action.
Take the classic photo of The Migrant Mother (above), captured in 1936 by Dorothea Lange. The image showed a destitute mother with three children clinging to her, their clothes tattered and ragged. That image symbolized the Great Depression and is emblazoned in the collective memory of US culture.
ABOVE: Richard Drew on photographing the "Falling Man"
Think about some of the images that have been seared into your mind over the years – they tell the story of the world in the times you’ve lived through.
For me, I have Richard Drew’s The Falling Man in mind. The image of a man, thought to be sound engineer Jonathan Briley, who worked at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks, diving to his inevitable end, is as tragic as it is intriguing.
Also, Turkish photographer Nilüfer Demir’s heartbreaking 2015 image of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, who had drowned and washed ashore after the boat his family was in capsized on its way to the Greek island of Kos.
The times we’re living through now are also filled with moments that may prove pivotal in the trajectory of civilization – take the image of a bloodied President Donald Trump with his fist raised after surviving an assassination attempt. That image, captured by US photojournalist Evan Vucci, reverberated around the world.
If you are driven enough to step out into the world and capture it, you are doing more than just ‘taking pictures’. You’re giving the world a way to see itself, which is something that we need now, as we have throughout other critical junctures in the past.
What we capture matters. Pick up your camera and do what is necessary.
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