T

hat a picture speaks a thousand words is certainly a well known phrase. And from the moment the digital age met with social media, everyone has spoken a thousand pictures.
 
During my years studying and working in marketing I had the front row seat to see that a powerful scene or shot pointedly delivered message was just as effective as a tagline copy. One of my favorite TV commercials is a Volvo ad from the late 1990s.

The 60-second ad featured a Volvo driving past children playing in a park, newlyweds, business folks and other typical milestones in life.

Those images of an ideal life were reflected on the car'€™s door, allowing viewers to create a further impression. There was no voice-over and the whole car was only shown in the last frame, but the message had been implanted '€” that Volvo was for life.

It does not mean that copy editors should now switch careers and become graphic designers. Words, in text or voice, always lend context to frame an image, especially images that can be interpreted in multiple or conflicting nuances, or images that may be construed as generic.

Still on ads, my all-time favorite slogan is the Phillips tagline for the Indonesian market '€œTerus terang Phillips terang terus'€ that is a genius wordplay to cement how long lasting its light bulbs are (because, really, there'€™s only so many ways to film efficient bulbs).

In the current digital and social media age, images are no longer exclusive to professionals. Anyone can snap an image or record a scene, and upload it for the world to see and react to through repost or comment buttons. I know an artist who loves to tease his photographer friends about how their profession is rapidly eroded by anyone that has a smartphone with a built-in camera and a decent sense of composition.

Though it sounds kind of cruel, but as someone who'€™s been spending more and more time on Pinterest and Instagram in the past few months I have to say I agree with him to some extent.

OK, OK, you Leica-wielding pros out there, don'€™t throw your tripods at me just yet. I know very well how professionally taken images, still or moving, will triumph over amateur shots in terms of lighting, composition, color, angle and a myriad of technicalities.

But you all must agree that one thing no fancy gadget can substitute for is the human being behind the gadget, and thus the aspect that levels the playing field for pros and amateurs, is the ability to capture a moment. A moment that, given its context, delivers the message.

And I guess that'€™s what inherently has driven us social beings in droves to the realm of image-sharing social media, to peek at other people'€™s moments and share ours in return.

Self-pictures have become so widespread that the term '€˜selfie'€™ made it into Oxford Dictionary last year and opened the market for monopods (cheekily named tongsis, short for narcissistic stick, by Indonesians).

To spread joy, duly notify, find similar interests, vent, gloat, mock or parade '€” motives to share are as plenty as the nooks and crannies a human heart can hold multiplied by the number of individuals that exist on social media.

Human beings'€™ better intentions have helped eco and anti-violence digital campaigns go viral, while our darker side is perhaps best illustrated by silly celebrities posting banal feeds and people making conscious decisions to follow just to laugh at those antics.

From cave drawings, stone carvings and reliefs on temple walls in ancient times to papyrus, canvas and tapestry paintings in medieval times, black and white pictures and silent movies of the previous century to the digital visuals of this millennium. Images are becoming more lifelike and used more often to send messages by us, to us, about us and among us.

When released to the public, which is certainly easy to do these days, images often transcend language or cultural barriers. Yet, as every private grumble or public kerfuffl e about released images has consistently shown, it is the context that makes all the difference.

A selfie is just another spur of the moment activity, unless it'€™s taken during a solemn funeral. A soldier shown holding a torched holy book may have been interpreted as a grave insult if it'€™s not explained that he was saving it from a burning building. Nude shots between consenting adults are a private matter, but sent to a client one has a crush on might single-handedly ruin one'€™s professional life.

First Ladies taking up photography make a boring photo-op, but First Ladies shown busily snapping pictures when visiting disaster victims or while the state palace is on fire create a watershed character image.

The digital era has arrived with a big bang. Not to participate in it means to fully commit oneself as a Luddite (in which, if you choose to be, no judgment from me). But for the rest of us mortals out here, you'€™d do well to remember it is you who have the last hand in providing context to whatever image you happen to control before its release to the world and takes a life of its own and speaks its thousand words.