What makes a photograph meaningful.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 02:59PM When I talk about what I consider to be a good photo, I seldom mention words like exposure and composition. Don't get me wrong. Those are both very important in photography, but the words I am most likely to say are emotion and meaning. For me a photo can even be a little blurry, but if it captures a tender moment it can still be better than the crispest photo ever taken.
Chris and I both lost our grandfathers in the summer of 2011. We lost them within the span of two weeks. They were both very important in our lives and helped shape us into the people we are today. When Chris was a teenager he helped his Grandfather a lot on his farm. I remember when we first started dating that there were signs on the gates that led into the farm that read "Stewart Farm." Chris told me that he had helped his grandfather hang these signs.
After Tata's passing last summer, we were going through one of his out buildings and found one of the signs. Chris took it home that day and later shared an idea with me. He wanted me to photograph our kiddos and his sister's children with the sign on the farm for his mom for Christmas. So he arranged it with his sister.
I will go ahead and tell you that this next photo was my favorite from the day. Why is it my favorite? I like the colors. I like the contrast. I like that the little boys are holding the sign as it would have been hung on the gate.
The next photo is the one Chris had planned. This was the first time in years that any crop other than hay had been grown on Tata's farm. He leased it to some local farmers and they grew corn. He negotiated the terms in the spring before he became sick.
We weren't able to get together to get the photo taken before the crop was harvested, but Chris had the farmers leave a section of corn when they harvested the crop. We met at the barn and secretly crossed the road to where he wanted the photos taken. He wanted a photo of the kids holding the sign in front of the corn.
For Christmas we gave his parents a 24x36 gallery wrap of the photo above. Like I said before, I liked the other photo a little better, and I wasn't able to get the image to fit on the gallery wrap exactly as I would have liked. However, Chris loved it. It was the one that was the most meaningful to him. That is what really mattered.
When my in-laws unwrapped it on Christmas I knew that Chris was right. The way his mom cried when she looked at it. The way she hugged me. The way she thanked me. The emotion she felt was so obvious. This image held so much meaning for her and that meant everything about it was perfect.
It is now above their fireplace, and I hope that each time she looks at it she smiles. I hope that she has good memories. I hope that she will know she is loved.
That my friends is what I believe makes a photograph meaningful.
