Importance of Context

A picture is worth a thousand words, but are these words true or false?  Errol Morris, brings up a very interesting point about this by asking can a picture be true or false?  Ultimately the answer is no.  A picture without word can be neither, but the words and thoughts we use to describe a picture can be.  We may see a picture of boat, a mountain, or a person, but without any other knowledge, how is one to know what mountain they're looking at, or where is this boat sailing.  The point is without context we can only formulate our own ideas about a picture.  A picture doesn't say a thousand words.  We do.  Once we are given the context of a picture it suddenly changes how we think of it.  I'll give an example.

What could I be?

I just show this picture and one is free to judge what it may be for oneself.  One may see the round shape and think maybe this is some type of fancy new throwing disc.  Others will notice the word "nexus" and relate that to the Google Nexus line of phones and tablets.  Is it used with these devices?  Could it be a new portable speaker?  No, in fact it is a LG's wireless charger for the Nexus 4 phone.(link)  Simply set your phone on the slanted surface and it will charge.  It's difficult to guess such a thing from simply staring at a picture.

Before context is added one is left to simply wonder what they are looking at.  They use their past experiences to help them along the way, but their interpretation of the image may be true or false.  Without words to describe a picture it is difficult to guess what something may or may not be.  That is the importance of context in pictures.