Sunday Morning Reflections: The Challenge of Being Concise

by Skip Cohen

Years ago I had the privilege of visiting the White House when Senator Howard Baker was President Reagan's Chief of Staff.  Senator Baker was shooting mostly Hasselblad and Nikon and just wanted to talk about photography.  During the conversation we were talking about how a picture really is worth a thousand words.  He told me about a letter he had sent to another Senator once. It started out with:

"I'm sorry this letter is so long.  I didn't have time to write something shorter!"

While the statement itself sounds like a complete contradiction, think about how hard it is to write something concise.  We all use too many words to get to the point.  If it takes more than a paragraph or two to explain something then it's probably too long.

Now, here's a great exercise and it comes in two parts.  First, if you could come up with six words to describe your love for photography what would they be?  Second, look at the "About" section of your website.  Does the description of who you are on your site match up with those six words that describe your love for photography?  And, are you able to do it in two paragraphs or less?

---