Submerged WA-9916 | Nikon D700, 17-35, Caribbean Sea near Little Cayman Island
After years of trying various earbuds for listening to music, I finally invested in a nice pair of over-ear headphones this year. It is amazing how much they can transform the listening experience. I found myself discovering new elements of songs I have owned for years. Of course, this isn’t really any revolutionary discovery as any audiophile would probably tell me, and I already knew. The years just had me opting for portability and convenience over the full experience. There is a big difference between knowing it, and feeling it. It did get me thinking about one particular aspect of the new experience, and that is how immersive the music feels simply by changing the method and tool I used to access it.
For as many parallels one can draw between music and photography, this aspect of “immersivity” is a tough one to find similarities. When is the last time you have used the word ‘immersive’ to describe a photograph you have seen? The method that we access photographs these days hardly sets up a similar type of experience. Certainly not on a smartphone – maybe not even on a billboard.
With the headphones, I felt like I was in the room with the musicians. No barriers. It not only engaged my sense of hearing, but that inner sense of feeling in the moment, goose bump reactions on my skin. I am sure many people experience this with their own photographs after a great experience. Looking at the photo afterwards cannot match up to what it was like to be there at that moment. We can get close visually, but when it comes to engaging the other senses and feelings involved, it can leave one wanting more.
Perhaps we are left with this gap until we can experience all of our photographs in an IMAX way? Does this immersive connection with a photograph rely upon characteristics like print / view size, dynamic range, and like audio – photographic fidelity?
As photographers we can certainly search for those scenes that will help us create an immersive capture but I for one have never successfully created such an image. I have, however, been to exhibitions where images have caused me to shut out just about every sensory perception for a moment or two leaving me purely in a metal state. But even in those instances it is nothing compared to what music can do. I would say that there is no greater medium, no better art form than music for immersive expression. Movies I suppose come close but what else can shift a mood from melancholic to joyous or happy to tearful or bored to energised, secure to scared in a matter of minutes? What form of expression can carry an entire crowd to bliss or to tears the way music can? Show someone a photo of a shark and you might get a bit of a fright but play them two notes of music as in the theme to Jaws and the reaction will undoubtedly be more intense.
I believe photography can trigger memories and even moods just not to the extent that music can achieve. Having said that, let me say that your photo accompanying this post is magic. Now let me go find my Jaws soundtrack and … 😉
Thank you for those comments Cedric. It may be true that there is no equivalent experience visually. I was just trying to get my head around the possibility. For sure perhap some human interest photojournalism photos can create a highly emotional response that might be considered immersive. I have a photo on my wall that I had done in a facemount acrylic that is quite vibrant and sharp that it almost looks 3D. That comes about as close as I can imagine. Then I wonder is it a function of the output medium, or just the photo itself? (Like a good pair of headphones can transform a musical piece)
Where photos are concerned I would say the output medium along with its presentation context goes a long way to making a photograph immersive. I’ve been to some excellent photographic exhibitions where I felt immersed in a world created in part by the photographer and in part by the curators. Looking at the same photographs in a book in the gift-shop just didn’t have the same impact. I find that music, on the other hand, can transport me regardless of where or how I’m listening to it.
Whe I look at my old images it still takes me back to the moment I took the picture. I can remembers lot of things about that moment and what it was like being there. Of course other viewers can’t feel that because they weren’t there. I can only hope the photos make them feel something.
So, by the way, what headphones did you get?
Howard, that is what I was wondering. If there is a way to bridge that gap with the viewer.
I went with Masters and Dynamic MH40’s. It was a hard choice, seems like so many opinions/reviews out there. Ultimately I just went with my gut – plus I like the styling and attention to build quality.
I think if you are able to bridge that gap then you have a fantastic photo….one of the twelve a year that Ansel was hoping for 🙂
In regards to the headphones and opinions, I guess sound, like photos, does have a good deal of subjectivity!
I think it shows the difference in the senses. Hearing, you can ignore everything else and focus on the music. A good set of headphones only enhances the experience.
With photographs I think we use so many more senses in creating them.
We have the sight obviously but we also have the smells, the sounds and the feel.
Looking at footage I’ve shot of ice on a local creek doesn’t make my body feel cold or turn my breath into vapor.
Looking at a photograph I can’t hear the sounds of nature in the background or smell the blooms of the tall grass prairie.
I think looking at a photograph reduces a multi sense experience to a single sense while listening to music is a single sense to begin with.
That single sense experience is what I was getting at. It seemed to go beyond that with an improved delivery mechanism. Sure, the input was only through my ears, but there was a tangible difference in the quality of experience vs. a delivery mechanism that isn’t so well suited.