An audience as engaged as a three year old at Pepper Pig World
I offer specialist photographic services for conservation and environmentally conscious organisations looking to engage and retain an audience. Should I be one for bragging, I could tell you about my highly and specially commended accolades in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, I could mention my decades of experience as a professional underwater photographer, or being chosen as an assignment photographer by several eminent conservation organisations. Instead, I'll offer some advice for photography in a image-hungry world.
These days, you often hear talk of the ‘hero’ image. You may think it just means a picture of Tom Cruise, but it’s actually the main picture on a web page or the lead picture in a news story, but it goes deeper than just being a big picture. A hero shot has to embody the story without the need for words. Finding that image and taking it is a skill I’ve learned over numerous assignments for the likes of Greenpeace, International Animal Rescue, Born Free Foundation and the Port of London Authority. The hero image gives a story gravitas and grabs the attention of the reader in a time when attention-spans are as rare as a sad ending to a John Hughes movie or a muggle in a Harry Potter film.
In a world filled with swiping fingers, your imagery needs to be a brake. Give people a reason to linger longer than a cream slice at an afternoon tea in an old people’s home and they will return. The human mind desires a reason to stop, you have to give it one.
Yet the human mind is as fickle as that dude Katy Perry sings about in Hot and Cold and what it finds appealing one day, it might be turned off by the next. Constantly monitoring this fickleness is the key to keeping your audience as sticky as the fingers of a five year old sat next to the chocolate fountain at a wedding.
So if you want your audience as engaged as a three year old at Pepper Pig World, get in touch at photo@gavinparsons.co.uk
