The question I’d never ask any more

‘Did your dad recognise you, Christina?’

That’s the question I get asked the most when I talk about the time recently spent in England with my dad, who has advanced dementia.

It’s a question I would also have asked- until now.

People with dementia often have optic nerve issues and cannot see what we see. (My dad often thinks the food is on the table and tries eating it when the plate isn’t there yet.)

But the way his distant eyes light up and he breaks into a smile when I hold his hand, and he tells me he loves me, all say that he knows it’s me. It’s a feeling we both experience.

Feeling is what I’m looking for in photography and image making. It’s a tough call when you can only use the still image or print medium. (A touch easier when motion and sound can be added.)

But if you can somehow convey the emotion of the moment, you’re pretty much there.

Most advertising creatives would agree.

We’re humans and we relate to emotions, even if we don’t fully understand them.

Consumers – the audience and the people the ads are speaking to – are everyday people who want happiness, freedom, to belong and to help, to be pain-free or to thrive, to explore or find peace, to fit in or stand out, to love and be loved.

They’re us.

Your biggest job as an advertising photographer is to move those viewers, and the creatives who might want to work with you too.

To evoke a strong feeling in them. To offer them uplifting inspiration or something deeply familiar.

The most powerful ad campaigns do exactly this.

What sort of feeling does your work evoke and who might need that?