What’s NOT In A Photo May Be More Important Than What Is

Sometime in the last month or so someone mentioned to me how good everyone looked in a certain photograph. My memory’s hard drive is so full that I am prevented from recalling who it was or what the photo was about. Not thinking much about it at the time, I think I agreed.

Now, I’m not so sure. For some reason I’ve kept thinking about photographs, how we view them, what they are, why we enjoy them so much – and even what some cautions might be. Even though I can’t remember much about the incident mentioned.

I think it’s good to look neat and somewhat groomed in a photograph. A snapshot taken just after a shower is not an inviting image to preserve on a desktop. But how important is it to “look good,” really?

A photograph reflects just a snippet in time, and it’s by no means a full indication of someone’s true condition. You can clean up a homeless thief, groom him or her, and then take a photo. The image will look “good,” but it is giving you a very false impression. The subject is likely still hungry, without shelter, and may be hurting badly enough to continue stealing.

If we’re good at looking good in pictures, does that really say anything? When Andre Agassi was peddling Canon cameras on TV several years ago, his pitch line was, “IMAGE is everything.”

Is it?

I think not. Too many of us look in the mirror every day and try to make ourselves look like something we’re not. The long line at the plastic surgeon’s office tells us that many Americans are either not seeing what is there or they are seeing something that isn’t there – or both. And they’ll do anything to change their “appearance.”

Looking at a photograph that “looks good” tells you very little. Take the photo above, for example. At best, it says that at one point in time, this young lady looked good in a parka. What it doesn’t tell you is anything about who she is. The snapshot means nada. What IS important is who she is and what she is all about.

I think if there’s a danger in focusing on “images,” it may lie in looking at life itself as if we’re staring at a photograph. We are unable to see the reality of the complexities, challenges and struggles the subject faces. Conversely, it’s often easy to project a “wonderful image” if we photograph well. In either case, reality is obscured.

If we view life as the “image” we’d like it to be, we’re in deep trouble. If we ourselves project a “cool” image, no one will know we’re hurting. When we look in the mirror, or at a photograph, we need to take an honest look and see beyond what’s in the image. We need to discover what’s NOT in the impression.

Jesus said it well, and I’m paraphrasing from memory: “Humans look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” The heart (or one’s “personhood”) is what is NOT in a photo.