My blog is an evolving entity. When I started writing daily, my vision was that I would combine a single photograph with an essay each day. This discipline would keep me involved in a hobby that I love, photography, and help me develop as a writer. I arrived at the formula of a single picture and a one thousand word essay because of the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In the early day son this blog I kept to that format. Then, after a while, I discovered that I frequently did not have a picture to go with my essay. For a while I used stock images from the Internet, but somehow that seemed not to be keeping with my original intentions. I discovered that if I allowed myself to write each day and use pictures only when I had a particularly striking image I was freed to continue writing. Quickly my photography and my writing took different routes.

The basic problem is that while I am disciplined about my writing and find it to be meaningful to write every day, I am less disciplined about my photography. Photography is an avocation for me and I take pictures when I have time. In a similar time the use of pictures on the internet has increased so much that we rarely take time to examine and enjoy a single image. If one were to use the adage as a point of reference, it might be fair to say that the value of pictures has decreased when it comes to the Internet.

Of course the comparative value of pictures and words is a false economy from the beginning. The base price of one picture to one thousand words seems to have its origin in early 20th century USA. Frederick R. Barnard published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising titled, “One look is worth a thousand words,” in 1921. This is the earliest use of the phrase that I could find, but Barnard attributed it to “a famous Japanese philosopher.” The same journal, Printer’s Ink, that published the Barnard article in 1921, came up with a modification in its March 1927 issue: “Chinese proverb. One picture is worth ten thousand words.” Not only was the source arbitrarily switched from Japan to China, but the price had gone up tenfold.

The price of ten thousand words, however, had other references in literary history. The Works of Mr. James Thomson, published in 1802 claimed, “One timely deed is worth ten thousand words.” In 1808, “The Trust: A Comedy, in Five Acts,” declared “That tear, good girl, is worth, ten thousand words.” And the American Journal of Education, in 1858, printed, “One fact well understood by observation, and well guided development, is worth a thousand times more than a thousand words.”

So it may be that the limited number of pictures that accompany my blog has to do with price inflation. It just takes more words to make up the price of a picture. But if one looks from an historic perspective, it appears that the trend is going the opposite direction.

So, today I’m putting lots of pictures in my blog. The reason has nothing to do with the comparative value of pictures and words, however. It has to do with the fact that the vacation we took in the last week afforded time for me to take a lot of pictures.

Most of those pictures were of our grandchildren and I am reluctant to post pictures of them in the Internet. I know it is common. The Facebook entries of my friends are filled with pictures of their grandchildren. I, however, am reluctant to do so. Our children are pretty careful about what they do and do not post on the Internet and a sense of caution seems to be in order when it comes to something as precious as their children.

I have, however, had time to take a child’s eye view of the world. Playing hide and seek with our grandson meant that I was crawling about in the bushes and ornamental plants in their yard. I got a good picture of a bee and some others of spider webs in the process. I looked at dandelions from a different perspective than my normal pattern. Being in the Pacific northwest afforded a view of plants that are different from the ones growing in our back yard and having time to just be outdoors and on the ground reminded me of beauty that I often miss.

The trip on the airlines afforded some spectacular views of the great volcanic peaks of the Pacific Northwest. At one point on our descent into Seattle I could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and M. Hood all at once. The plexiglass of the airline window was scratched and it was a less than favorable setting for photography, but the snapshot I took out of the airline window is nonetheless dramatic.

So today there are plenty of pictures in my blog. They aren’t illustrations of the words per se, but rather a reflection of my perspective in the past week. After all the blog is always a commentary on my changing perspectives on life and faith and it makes sense that I offer a bit of visual variety as well as the kaleidoscope of perspectives that is my usual fare.

Regular readers of the blog may notice that there are more images when I have more time and am in a more recreational phase of my life. I know that my attention is much more focused when using my single lens reflex camera to make an image than when I pull out my phone for a quick snapshot. Time and mental focus are important factors in producing quality photographs.

It seems possible that at some point in the future, when I turn my attention to retirement and shift the focus of my energy, I might make more time for photographs. In the meantime, don’t expect consistency from this blog.

After all, depending on the current value of pictures, today’s blog could be considered to be much longer than usual.

Copyright (c) 2016 by Ted E. Huffman. If you would like to share this, please direct your friends to my web site. If you want to reproduce any or all of it, please contact me for permission. Thanks.