What makes an image stay with us for longer than a cup of tea?

This may easily be one of the key points of concern in a market research questionnaire for most brands vying for more traffic, more followers to build a clientele on social media. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are some of the successful social media platforms that helps billions of people to stay connected, share news, catch up on trends globally. Most of us might think, for an image to hit the viral high it takes a streak of good luck but what if that is not really the case.

The photo above is of Omran Daqneesh, a 5-year-old boy who was rescued after an air strike in the Aleppo city of Syria. In the photograph, his face is covered in dust and blood, his tiny feet stretched out and barely reaching the floor. He looks shaken to the point that it has silenced him. It forces us to think of Omran on a good day, where he is sitting in front of the TV watching his favorite cartoon and not dragged out of the rubble of his home and sitting bloodied in the ambulance. We are looking at an image of the most vulnerable in the society, a small child, traumatized and speechless. This photograph went viral globally in August 2016 and the world instantly tapped into the plight of humanity in Syria, creating an international outrage. That led to journalists following up on Omran’s story and in June 2017 his father accused the news agencies of using his son’s photograph for aiding the rebel group’s propaganda against the government of Syria.

Contemplating on what makes an image go viral, taking in course the outreach which is a by product of all digital mediums, there is a mathematical logic to it. When we see an image, it allows free association and interpretation to flow, honoring the human element. That moment when we choose to stare in the eyes of reality, drawn in by the concert of emotions played out in front of us, it is almost musical. A tune that sits in our heads and hearts like stones in the bottom of a pool, an image out of your time that has survived. On the other hand to a photographer, it is not all formulaic, instead it takes observing through viewfinders, patiently waiting to illuminate the subjects, the choice of equipment, as photographers are more than documentarians; they are storytellers.

‘Final Embrace’ is a photograph taken by Taslima Akhter of a couple that presumably worked at one of the five garment factories, trapped in the debris of the Rana Plaza Building in Savar, Bangladesh, which collapsed on 24 th April 2013. In this hauntingly disturbing and touching image, we have the evidence of the fragility of human life. And as we close in, we are made to admit that above our differences based on region, cast, class and religion, we are emotional beings who aspire to dream and connect, knowing well that we could be struck by tragedy at any given moment. ‘It’s as if they are saying to me, we are not a number — not only cheap labor and cheap lives. We are human beings like you. Our life is precious like yours, and our dreams are precious too.’ wrote Akhter about the photograph.

As of today, most photography starts and ends digitally; and some photographs are made into memes. Like the photograph below of a child trying to eat sand shot by his mother went viral as ‘I hate sandcastles’ meme in 2007. His tiny fist and his facial expressions gave way to many captions asserting feelings of bravado, self –assurance and achievement. This snapshot of Sammy Grinner was made into various memes globally, from becoming the face of Barack Obama’s immigration reform in 2013 to a mobile company campaign in the UK, the image traveled far and wide.

In the form of a meme, a photograph becomes more of a commodity, and if we attempt to make an assessment of its virality, its varied number of interpretations marks the universality of the image. ‘A commodity that is a mysterious thing because it appeals to the society as a whole and it stands proof of its undistorted essence and social character.’ Here comes the crucial question of ethics and aesthetics in the context of visuals. With the booming trend of making memes and an easy access to photos by simply taking a screenshot, can we say that is reason alone why digital manipulation of images for the purpose of deceiving the viewers is more prevalent now than ever before? Photo manipulation is not a product born out of digital technology; it is one of the old techniques of the darkroom method. Though, in case of digital processing of an image, there is no end to what all can be done to an image. So, the intentions might purely be for aesthetic reasons but in pursuit of aesthetics it is necessary to keep in check the violation of ethics. Most of the world population uses smartphones, sharing photos, images and that gives us an idea of the amount of visual data we are creating and adding to the narrative of the 21 st century.

In today’s world, every individual can communicate through images and it is ever so important that we pick the stories that speak the truth. Manipulation of the truth to give a false picture is another parallel within our visual world and despite the knowledge of it; we are gullible to the visual data put out on social media to gain power and influence. Concluding my introspection into the definition of a ‘viral image’ I can safely assume that it is not a binary affair between the subject and the photographer or a triangular one between the subject, photographer and the viewer; in fact it is a quadrangular affair. The fourth point denoting our social consciousness, counting each and every soul, looking for a confirmation of a moment of truth in a photograph or an image from a world we call our own.

Most recently, in July 2020 the Internet was taken by the fascinatingly beautiful images of Saaya, a rare black panther residing in the Kabini forest of India photographed by wildlife photographer, Shaaz Jung.

In no time, the photographs of the magnificent animal went viral and reminded everyone of Mowgli’s pal Bagheera from ‘The Jungle Book’. These images came as a great surprise in the lockdown days of COVID 19 and flooded the Internet with collective feelings of awe and admiration. “I went numb the first time I saw the panther. I forgot to lift the camera and take a picture until the driver reminded me. It was a fleeting glimpse but it will forever be etched deep in my memory. I will never forget the first time I looked into Saaya’s luminous eyes,” says Jung reflecting on the moment he spotted the big cat; insinuating that the human eye can see so much more.

Pallavi Gaur

Pallavi Gaur is a freelance photographer based out of New Delhi. An alumna of Goldsmiths College, University of London, she was selected for the VII Photo Masterclass in 2016. She also works as a producer/researcher for video documentaries.