The “3 A” Theory: The Secret to Memorable Street Photographs

"Presentation of Self" Project, Korea, 2011.

(Above image from my “Korea: The Presentation of Self” series, 2011)

I am very interested in ideas and how they spread. Especially “viral” ideas. A while ago I came upon this study on virality that studied the most shared articles on The New York Times and the researchers had a hypothesis on what causes something to spread like a virus.

Their research suggested that the articles that got shared most applied to their “3 A” theory — awe, anger, and anxiety. Articles that evoked a strong emotional response from the readers.

Curious how you can apply this to your street photography to make more memorable images? Read on.