It’s Nice to Have Conflict

If you’re reading a story and everything goes according to plan, everyone gets along and there is no conflict at all in the pages of the book, that would be a very boring book. Conflict in a story, as in life can get your heart beating. Remember the time you had conflict with that particularly irritating individual?  Do you remember how your heart raced? Remember how your hands shook? You were irritated, angry and your blood boiled. Whether you were right or wrong, the fact is you felt alive. This is what conflict does. It creates emotion that helps deliver a message. It helps maintain interest. It can keep an audience captive. Part of the reason, is you don’t know what’s happening next. It’s  plays off the concept of  “the gap of knowledge”. George Loewenstein, behavior economist at Carnegie Mellon University says,“Curiosity happens when we feel gaps in our knowledge.”  This is why the classic “whodunit” is so powerful. You’re left with wondering what’s going to happen. You want to stick around to the end. You need to know!

In conflict within the image, the viewer wants to know what’s going to happen. There is an uneasiness felt. In the image above we view a rather smug looking young Muslim man standing in the doorway of a mosque. A woman behind him looks as if she wants to go in but isn’t quite sure. The man’s body language with his arms crossed, his smug look, and the fact that his standing in the middle of the doorway gives the impression that he’s barring the entrance. Whether it’s true conflict or not, it’s implied. Interestingly, this would not be as strong if you did not know a little something about Islam. The person that doesn’t know that there are religious barriers (called purdah) between men and women in this faith might not feel the conflict in the image. Sometimes this lack of understanding of the subject matter can be overcome with visual clues, as in the next image.

Here we have almost the same kind of conflict happening. Except, this time there’s no man standing as the barrier (at least not intentionally). This time it is a sign. The sign clearly states that women are not allowed inside. It doesn’t matter your views on Islam, you still experience conflict and are drawn into the image.  It would be as if I had a photograph of a green bench with a sign that said “Wet paint do not touch!”, and someone sitting next to it on the ground. Doesn’t matter what you feel about wet paint, you still are seeing conflict and are drawn into the photograph and held. In the image above, this conflict is heightened by the woman having her hands to her face as if she is crying. Actually, she has just finished praying, and in Islamic fashion she is drawing her hands over her face, as if washing in the blessing she has just received.

Conflict doesn’t have to be human. Conflict in an image can be something as simple as one horizontal line intersecting with multiple vertical lines. It doesn’t have quite the emotional impact, but nonetheless it’s unsettling and it maintains interest of the viewer. Of course, it’s more powerful anytime the conflict involves humans. Why?  Because we relate to it. We fall on one side or the other in the conflict. We have all seen the wet paint signs and want to touch the bench. We have all been barred from going someplace we’ve wanted to go.  We relate. Capturing this kind of conflict in an image is actually not that easy. But when you do find it and are able to photograph it, you can create a powerful image.