Photographs play an important role in everyone’s life – they connect us to our past and enable people to perceive the world from different perspectives. a universal language that manages to convey feelings and emotions, that often cannot be conveyed by words. This is the power of a picture.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Frederick R. Barnard
Pictures are a tangible reminder of the people we love, places that we don’t want to forget, and feelings that made us grow as individuals.
If you have the sensitivity to see the beauty in the little things and manage to transform that into a beautiful static picture, you are at least for us, a photographer.
What would you grab first in a fire?
An insurance company in the UK surveyed 18,000 people to understand how their clients behave in a fire. One of the questions was:
“Discovering your home on fire is a frightening prospect. After making sure your family and pets are out of the property and are safe, and knowing you have your phone and wallet safely in pocket, what would you do next?”
Surprisingly, 72% of people would go back in and try to save something else. Out of that range of people, 33% would save their photo album. 60% would save their laptop (probably containing all their digital pictures).
The list of things that people would save are:
- Laptops, photo albums, and jewelry top the list.
- Collections of stamps, vinyl, and musical instruments.
- TVs, game consoles, and wedding dresses.
- Insurance policies (surprisingly low down the list!)
It’s not just an image. It is your truth being told.
It goes to show how important photos are for people. And represents the past, present, and how everyone wants to be remembered. That’s why you save them above many other important things.
HERE is the original article about the research and results.
So, pictures are not just seen as simple images; they document the story of each of us, a memento that can last forever. This record of how we live is family history for future genealogists.
It is not just a memory. It is also encouragement, motivation, and transformation.
One of my favourite ad campaigns conveys the importance of images as a mirror to our sense of self.
Dove’s “real beauty” campaign shows that there’s strength and individuality in beauty. It is not about ‘perfection’ as defined by pop culture.
Watch the video HERE.
The women featured in the campaign were all artfully photographed to showcase beauty, both inside and out. An empowering message, the campaign challenges all of us to see more than the surface, because as we all know, ‘beauty is skin deep’ and ‘in the eye of the beholder’ – to convey that in a snapshot is a feat in and of itself.
How people see you and your company matters.
In our world, people have personal brands, just as companies do. Social media has made pictures even more influential in how both people and companies express themselves.
The pressure of ‘perfection’ is criticized in our lives if we only share on social a rosy projection of our lives that we wish the world to see.
Authenticity is important for brand health, personal and corporate, and if well-used, social platforms offer value to enhance our reach, connections, and perspectives.
The digitized reality of our images and communications means everything is remembered!
That is a danger as well as an opportunity for your business in a world of user-generated social content and reviews.
It means that you need to look afresh at your surroundings through a lens, literally how does your company/venue look. Would you want that view on the internet?
This raises the bar for everything: the basics like hygiene in your venue need to be exceptional before the nice to haves like floral displays are invested in.
The good news is you can use imagery to showcase you’re the image you want to project. Platforms like Instagram or TikTok help you reach millions and are proven and powerful. Influencers exist because brands can see the immediate spike in leads and, for consumer goods, sales based on that visual content.
Don’t underestimate the importance of an image for your business. You are responsible for creating the perception of your business in the minds of your guests. Furthermore, you are responsible for creating experiences that lead them to enjoy their own memories and images in your venue.
Create joyful memories and guests will keep returning.
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