ONE PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

ONE PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS - We've all heard this statement at some time or another. But what does it really mean? Well, quite simply, it means that a photograph can, even without a word being said, deliver a most powerful message. Take the photo above which I took at an American Cancer Society Relay For Life here in Bisbee. As a fine art photograph it is quite simply, rather mediocre. The power of the photograph comes from the message it relates concerning the indomitability of the human spirit. These are cancer survivors, one aided by a walker, who are walking the initial lap of the Relay. So many photographs fit into the category of pictures worth a thousand words. Some, like the raising of the flag on on Iwo Jima or Neil Armstrong's footprint on the moon, are famous. Countless others are not. For me, one stands out. An unlikely shot to run on the front page of most every newspaper in the country, the photo was of a nature most newspapers would normally not see fit to print. The image was a full frontal nude photograph of a nine year old girl. However, newspapers all over the world did give the photo front page treatment. The photographer, Nick Ut, was subsequently awarded a Pulitzer prize for the image. If you're old enough to remember, as I am, the stark horror of this photograph is most likely forever etched in your mind. The little girl, who's name was Kim Phuc, was struck by napalm. At the time the photo was taken, Kim was racing down a dirt road, naked, having already ripped off her burning clothes. Now though, the napalm was beginning to gnaw away at her flesh, next would be muscle, right to the bone. Kim's face is contorted by pain and fear. This is a child looking Hell directly in its face. There was nothing prurient about the photograph. The obsenity it conveyed was of a different nature. It was the obsenity of innocents caught up in the horror of war. But it was an obsenity the world needed to see. LARRY ELKINS - ELKINSPHOTOS FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY