A Picture Paints 1000 words.

Yesterday evening I was reading the heart breaking story of Jessica Whelan, an amazing four year old, who tragically died of cancer last Sunday, https://goo.gl/EC4e8f .

What brought me to tears was the photograph taken by her father, of Jessica at the height of her suffering, a beautiful young girl, battling through pain that most of us will never know. My heart goes out to her family and in particular her father, who must have been devastated when he took this shot. But also for the words he wrote about Jessica, there were not only beautiful but inspiring.

So why am I writing about this story, well, apart from the fact I think Andy Whelen deserves all the credit he can get, hopefully this piece will further help to raise the profile of chid cancer.
However, there is an alternative motive to my writing. Once in a while, we see an image that communicates more than words can ever hope to. Famous examples include children burning in Vietnam, the lone protester in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and US marines raising their flag on Iwo Jima. These and others tell amazing stories and help an audience understand much more than words can do.

For all charities, as well as other organisations, there are many benefits to using photography and images to communicate a message. Images transcend boundaries, they are not language specific and they communicate emotions. In the modern world of social media, a powerful image will also ensure that your message will spread more quickly than otherwise and will help your cause rise above the congested world of words in the modern media.

Andy Whelen captured this painful event and selflessly decided to share it with others to help raise awareness of cancer in children. Personally I don’t think anyone will come close to reaching that level of passion and bravery, Jessica was lucky girl to have a father like Andy and his family were lucky to have such a brave and wonderful little girl.

What do you think, let me know.