We are living inside the image economy.

1. Pictures rule everything around me

Consider, pictures rule everything around us.

For example, the clothes, fashion, cars, homes, and lifestyle we have is “image management.” The pictures we upload to social media, and our profile pictures are all a “presentation of self”— we want to have control over our own personal image, ego, and “personal brand”— in order to feel more autonomy, freedom, and power in our lives.

2. Why are we so obsessed with our personal image?

Consider, we spend a shitload of money to control our personal image. Think of all the money we waste on yoga and gym memberships (which we never use), all that money on plastic surgery, and all the money we waste on fashion and luxury goods and products to make us seem sexier, cooler, richer, etc.

3. Our visual sense-perception is one of our most developed organs

Image is everything.

Our eyes are one of our strongest sense-perception organs. In today’s world, we are all staring at phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, and screens. The power of advertising, marketing, and branding is all about image.

4. How to profit from the image economy

Now, if you are an entrepreneur, you can exploit this “image obsessed society and economy” by the following:

1. Make pictures or sell pictures that make things, people, or places look good. Make pictures that would make good brochure pictures, or idealize a place. For example, whenever I book an Airbnb, I always trust the pictures the most— I think if a place has good pictures of a place, I trust it.
2. If you want to be successful online dating, your profile picture is EVERYTHING. Have a picture which portrays who you are— what filter do you use, what clothes do you wear, what lifestyle do you want to convey (are you a yogi, do you like the outdoors, do you like punk rock, are you a minimalist, are you clean and sophisticated, etc). If you shoot commercial photos, know that any pictures that you can shoot to make people look sexier, more handsome, more confident— is good.
3. If you are trying to sell anything, make the product pictures very good.

5. The ”reality” of images

The question:

“Is a picture truthful?”

I don’t think a picture can ever show “true” reality. All images are just interpretations of the real world.

For example, you can photograph an Airbnb room with a fisheye lens and make the room look bigger than it actually is in real life. But then again if you shot it with a telephoto lens, you would change the perception of the place (you would compress the space).

Now, pictures never show “truth”— because a camera or lens can never perceive the world like the real human eye (or specifically, the stereoscopic vision we get with two eyes).

A lens just has one “eye”. We have two eyes (in landscape orientation) that see the world in a “panoramic” view.

But then again, our human eyes perceive reality differently than the kaleidoscope vision of a dragonfly. Reality doesn’t change— only our visual apparatus is different. No animal “sees” the world more “accurately” than any other animal. For example, many insects can “see” different wavelengths that human beings cannot see. Do insects “see” the world more “accurately” than us? Not necessarily— it is just different.

We cannot see WiFi signals— does it mean that it doesn’t exist? We cannot see INFARED with our bare eyes— but it still exists.

There are some humans who are colorblind— is their vision of the world “incorrect” or “wrong”? No— once again, just different.

Anyways sorry I’m rambling— I mean to say this:

All reality is subjective. All pictures are subjective.

And that is what makes photography great — we can create our own personal visual interpretation of the world — and that is our task and duty as photographers and visual artists.

6. How to live in an image-obsessed world

This essay is a bit all over the place— why do I care about the “image economy”— and why is it important?

Well— here are some personal ideas:

1. It is great and empowering that we can control our image of ourselves via our clothing, social media presence, lifestyle, etc. Therefore, wear clothing, curate your online persona to communicate the self you want to show others.
2. People are always going to judge you based on your image and appearance. That might not seem “fair” but it is true. If you have a neck tattoo I’m going to judge you very differently than a man in a suit and tie. If you drive a Lamborghini I’m going to judge you very differently than if you drove a Prius. If you are a woman with short hair, I’m going to judge you differently than if you have a pink Afro. My suggestion is this: ultimately don’t care about how others judge your outer-appearance and image— but just be AWARE of how your image-management via your clothing and physical appearance will change the perception others have of you.
3. As a photographer, use your camera, lens, to curate and create your own version of visual reality.

Have fun,
ERIC