Ted Talks: How Photography Connects Us

by ellynovick1

‘The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.’ (Ted Talks)

‘Photographs emulate the way our mind freezes a significant moment.’

In this Ted Talk David Griffin discusses the way in which photography can trigger a memory of true fear. For example, when his son was pulled by the power of the sea, being dragged out and he dived out to save him. All the events came to define his emotional connection to the photo, and he distinguishes the relationship photography has with his interpretation of the memory.

Photographer, Nick Nichols, uses his wildlife photography to narrate a story about animals. ‘He brought back a story which went beyond an old school story of ‘what a wonderful world’ and created a story which touched our audiences deeply. Instead of knowledge of this park, he created an understanding and a knowledge of the elephants, the rangers and the many issues surrounding human wildlife conflicts’. (Griffin, 2008, Ted Talks)

Photography has the power to capture an essence of its subjects. By looking at photographer Jonas Bendiksen, he lived in the heart of Mumbai, India he was able to capture the soul and enduring human spirt which underlines this community.

What I loved about watching this Ted Talk was that it illustrated the personal connection a photograph can truly capture and the stories it can bring. One story which stuck out for me personally was about photographer Paul Nicklin traveling to Antartica to capture Leopard Seals.

‘This mouthing behavior, on the right, was really her way of saying to him, “Hey, look how big I am!” Or you know, “My, what big teeth you have.” (Laughter) Then Paul thinks that she simply took pity on him. To her, here was this big, goofy creature in the water that for some reason didn’t seem to be interested in chasing penguins. So what she did was she started to bring penguins to him, alive, and put them in front of him. She dropped them off, and then they would swim away. She’d kind of look at him, like “What are you doing?” Go back and get them, and then bring them back and drop them in front of him. And she did this over the course of a couple of days, until the point where she got so frustrated with him that she started putting them directly on top of his head. (Laughter) Which just resulted in a fantastic photograph.  Eventually, though, Paul thinks that she just figured that he was never going to survive. This is her just puffing out, you know, snorting out in disgust. (Laughter) And lost interest with him, and went back to what she does best.

Paul Nicklin, Leopard Seals, Ted Talks

Paul set out to photograph a relatively mysterious and unknown creature, and came back with not just a collection of photographs, but an amazing experience and a great story. It is these kinds of stories, ones that go beyond the immediate or just the superficial that demonstrate the power of photojournalism.’ 

(David Griffin, 2008, Ted Talks)

These stories which are captured through photography allows a personal connection to be made with the viewer and the subject. From watching this Ted Talk it has inspired me in a new perspective of how I will approach our project and the story I intend to capture.