Yesterday we talked about looking beyond the over-simplified question of whether a photo is “happy” or “sad.”
How do you go beyond oversimplified characteristics like that?
You look at the photos in as many ways and as deeply as possible.
Years ago, I interviewed someone who had received a support dog from an organization, and the dog had really transformed their life.
I took a picture, and I thought it was a good photo: The human and the dog were both making eye contact with the camera. Both of them were smiling. I thought I had a real winner on my hands
Then a coworker saw the photo and urgently cried time-out. What they saw was completely different: A slight flash reflection in the dog’s eyes made them appear opaque and just a touch reddish. Worse, the dog’s smile bared its front sharp teeth. They looked like fangs.
“That looks like some kind of devil dog!” said my colleague.
I couldn’t see it. Because I’d met the dog. He was a very good dog. Friendly, helpful, life-changing.
But, yeah, he kinda looked like a devil dog, now that I saw it this way.
Here are some ways to look past your own curse of knowledge that might be blinding you to what the photo says to other people:
- Be super clear about the story you want to tell. Does the photo tell that story, or does it tell some other story? A lot more people will look at the photo than will not read your copy, no matter how well written it is! The photo will be the whole story for them.
- Look at the photo with as open a mind as possible. Do your best to put aside your knowledge, your prejudices, your experience.
- Ignoring your own knowledge is difficult to do, so it really helps to get someone who knows less to look at it. Don’t ask them whether they like or dislike photo. Ask them to tell you what story they think they see. That can uncover those “devil dog” things you miss.
- Look closely at the whole photo, at both the focal points and background, the overall impression. Sometimes there are things in the background that you ignore because you know they’re not important ... but someone else may see and by highly influenced.
This is a critical step to take. And it may cause you to abandon photos you really like. But it can keep your messaging on point.
And encourage more people to give.
