The Power of Words and Images: A Journey in Photography

As a kid I was always told by my elders to be respectful and kind. They always used to tell me “words have a lot of power, don’t say something that can hurt someone if you don’t mean it, think before you talk”. Those words to this day have impacted the way I talk with anyone I meet. I am always conscious of what i’m saying and I think twice before saying something I am not sure about. I like to show respect to anyone no matter who they are as I like the same to be reciprocate it onto me. I learn from a very young age the power of the word “hate”. That word can hurt, especially if you say that to a loved one. I am not going to say I hate that individual but if I dislike being around someone I will let it be known. I have a couple of people in my life that I dislike because of what they have done to me but I won’t say I hate them as that brings a lot of negativity. I try to be kind but as any normal human being I make mistakes, I have had times where I have said things I don’t mean. We are not perfect, we all will say things we don’t mean part of growing up is realizing this and taking responsibilities for your words or actions. This is something I tell my son every day as I want to get him ready for whatever life throws at him. I tell him not everyone will like you and those that do will cherish your friendship those are the ones you should be pay attention to and keep the negative stuff out. Is easier said then done though that’s for sure I still struggle with it to this day.

There are words that sometimes have so much power that they live on even after we depart from this life. The other day I took my son to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We got to the MLK section where we saw an image of him standing in front of a massive crown on the national mall, and without even reading the excerpt next to the image my son said “we just pass right by where he was in this picture it looks like his giving a speech”. He was right that’s where he delivered his “I have a dream” speech. That image so iconic said so much without having any writing in it. That speech he gave on that day became so iconic we still talk about it to this day. That speech was so beautifully delivered and those words to this day still resonate with a lot of Americans. We continued to walk through the museum and got to a sections where they had a picture of Barack Obama and my son immediately reacted and said “look is Barack Obama he is giving a speech too”. The day he made history in this country becoming the first African-American president, no words were written on the picture but from looking at it you can remember that iconic moment, no words needed.

This is the power that images have, images can take you back to a certain point in time and remember that day like it was just yesterday. I heard a professional photographer who was on a podcast say “I do a lot of portraits of people and I regret not being able to take one of my mother to have something to remember her by”. He said “if you have a camera don’t hesitate to take it out to snap a photo, you don’t need to be a professional is about snapping that memory in time”. Just like words an image can say so much it can convey emotions, it can bring you back in time, or it can invoke inspiration. That photo of MLK is so powerful because just seeing it you immediately think of the “I have a dream” speech. We remember what he did for this country and we cherish the power that moment in history had in our nation. That photo of Barack Obama doesn’t just take us back in time to his inauguration, we start to remember that iconic speech and then we remember that point in history which we were all part of and all it takes is just one photo.

I hope that one day my work can invoke emotions, inspire individuals and create connections between individuals. All the photos I’ve shared all have a story behind it and sometimes the adventure is much better than the picture. My son has started doing photography with me and his been going with me Sunday mornings to take pictures. He had been asking me to go to Shenandoah to see the mountains and a week prior to this photo I took we went and it was so foggy. We could barely see so we came back home with our heads down so we put on some music and where singing on our way back home. The following week I told him that is was suppose to be clear we just need to leave early. He got up at 5am way before me and said “papa let’s go”. I got up got ready and off we went at around 5:30, he was so excited and ask me to play music so we could sing. We got to the park right as the sun came up and we took our pictures when we were done he said “that was fun”. This picture may not be the best but it means so much to me as this kind of moments with my son are moments I never had with my dad and I am so glad that I can share a beautiful sunrise with him, nature is truly beautiful.

I want to finish off by giving a couple of updates, as you may have noticed a couple of changes on my website. I will continue to update the site I am thinking of doing a full remodel of the website as I get bored of the same thing after awhile. I also, want to make it easier to navigate through the site and make it easier for you to find what you are looking for whether that’s my portfolio, blog or store. I am doing a lot of things behind the scenes currently I am thinking of making a guide for sale of everything you need to know about Great Falls National Park before you visit. I am trying to make something that’s thorough and makes it easier for you to find hidden gems in Great Falls if you are thinking of visiting Northern Virginia. I also plan to do a full guide to Northern Virginia highlighting shops, towns, and scenic spots around here. If you may have noticed I put some merch up for sale, this designs were all made by me and design by me. I also am working with Etsy and Darkroom to released prints. If you go to capturemoment5.darkroom.com you will be able to purchase some prints by me. Darkroom helps small creators like me to get discover and make a little bit of money for our art. They have high quality printing paper and every purchase helps me a lot. I also have a donate button on my main page any help is greatly appreciated. If you would like to check my Etsy account I will basically be dropping my merch there as well is Capturemoment5design. I am planning to do a 3 part “exploring light” print drops this will be limited edition so if your interested stay tune is coming soon.