The Photograph – A snapshot in time

A brief perspective on pictures and the thousand words they speak

Sleeping cat, from my photo blog. 🐱💤

It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. It does even more than that. An image, just like music, has the power to soothe the soul. Images are a snapshot in time, a view of something, anything of interest to you that you can savour forever.

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” 
       - William Shakespeare

Shakespeare, in his sonnet 18 says his beloved’s beauty will live on, through the poem which will last as long as it can be read. Same can be said of an image, or a photograph of someone or something which will last as long as it can be seen.

Ant drinking water from a flower. From my photo blog Prachitra. 🐜

The original scene, person or any thing or being or entity in that image may change or even cease to exist in reality. But in the image, that entity remains as it was at the moment it was snapped, in all its exhilarating glory. The image immortalizes that entity it captures. The essence, the beauty, the aura of the entity lives forever in the image.

Little frogs hiding inside a flower. A memorable one from my photo blog. 🐸 🐸

Images are music for the eyes. A good image will soothe, relax and bring joy, just like good melodious music. Months later, or even years later, when the image or a photograph is viewed, it brings back the joy and memories of the times past.

It may be your loved ones, yourself, your cat or dog, or a crowd in a carnival. It will be false if you claim your mind does not time travel back to when it was snapped, playing a flashback of all the related events with it. Even a snap of an evening with nobody but Mother Nature in it will bring back the joy of a blissful evening she blessed you with.

Coming back to our cat, in the concrete jungle. Another memorable one from my photo blog. 🐈

Your snaps of all those moments and those you took just for the fun of it, will be cherished by you and the generations to come. So, keep snapping.

- Pralekha

You can see more of my snaps at Prachitra or at Flickr.

😺😸