At the risk of getting too philosophical, this assignment is a follow-on to the
"Clarity," and
"Captivating" assignments. In both of those assignments I talked about two very important characteristics that define an outstanding image. First, it must be
captivating. In order to become relevant to the viewer, an image must first capture and hold their attention. Second, the image must have
clarity. The photographer must clearly and succinctly convey the essence of the subject to the viewer. But even if those two qualities are present, the image may still fall short of being an outstanding image. Outstanding imagery (and art) has impact. It has an effect on our lives, however subtle. Those with the strongest impact are
compelling, precipitating a change in beliefs or values, or causing us to behave differently towards a subject.
The famous Pulitzer Prize winning photo by Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut of a 9-year old Vietnamese girl, naked, badly burned and horrified as she fled her village after a napalm attack was
compelling. It personalized the war in Vietnam for many Americans, and swung public opinion even further against the war. It's worth taking the time to scan through some of the
Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, most of which are very compelling images that had significant impacts on public opinion when they were published.
Please don't be intimidated by this assignment. I certainly don't expect any of us to create a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph in the next week. I do think it will be an important exercise to at least
try to create compelling images. Please photograph a subject of your choice, but try to create a compelling image that will influence the viewers' values or beliefs about the subject.
Thank you in advance to all of you that accept this challenge and attempt to create compelling images for the assignment. (If you have trouble creating a compelling image during the week, I encourage you to pull from your image archives for this assignment.) Please upload your images to the "Compelling" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the gallery no-later-than midnight, Mountain Time, on Sunday, 16 January 2011.
I will look forward to seeing your images.
Keith
