ABSTRACT
Communication is the two-way street of sending and receiving messages. Visual communication relies on images for this communication. Images work faster than the written word in delivering their message; they also work globally. The language a photographer uses in the studio with other photographers, assisting photographers, models and designers will be the same language used in a formal presentation of ideas to a client, even though the same image is being discussed. Literacy means being able to both interpret other people’s images and produce own meaningful and communicative images. It involves the skills taught today as ‘critical studies’, which include collecting, analysing, reflecting on and critiquing images, as well as composing images and manipulating their content. Images can be used to tell stories - this is described as narrative. Sequences of images can tell stories that involve the passage of time and allow us to compare and reflect on various points in the progress of the story.
