Imagining a world without photos is a difficult task. We've lived in a world so focused on imagery that it's hard to fathom how we'd live without it. I feel that a world without photos would be missing a very large part of communication. Pictures are involved in so many things: news, magazines, ads and multitudes of personal uses.
It makes me think of something I was told of while I was in Japan. In ancient Japan, people would receive the skins of tigers by trading with other countries (namely China). Very few people had actually traveled to see a tiger. The only thing they had to go on about it's appearance was the skins and some (probably exaggerated) stories from those few travelers. The Japanese were fascinated by these mysterious creatures and they appeared in much of their art. But as very few people knew how to portray a tiger they tended to vary and appear very unnatural. Now, we could bring this into a modern day and put it in the context of the internet. I could tell you I have very long brown hair and bright blue eyes. I'm 5'7", not exactly skinny, but definitely not really fat either. You still have no idea what I look like. There are not enough words in the world to properly describe me, but if you saw one picture there would be no need to try. We could spend our lives trying to tell each other how beautiful the Florence Cathedral is, what that cute guy from the party looked like, or what is going on overseas, yet never get the point across.
In the end, photographs are something that bring us experiences that we would not otherwise have. We would constantly have to try and imagine, with absolutely no idea, what things were. They help us convey ideas and thoughts, and in many ways are more efficient than words.
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