The significance of photographic education in the contemporary creative industry 4.0

Abstract

Since the first the image or photograph was first found around 1800, has become one of the fundamental elements of communication in human daily live. Those images which come from various sources from electronic and printed media contain various types of messages. Fundamentally all these images can be clustered into two major of ‘realistic’ and ‘interpretative’ strands. It functions encompass a broad range of contemporary living, from communication, the economy, education to art and culture. It is therefore, all images even the simple one requires to be understood by the large of society. Its importance is like a verbal and written languages. In some parts of the nation especially some developing countries however, image or photograph or can be referred as photographic education has not been given a proper position or is not well flourished in their formal Education System. Arguably, the subject of image-based or photographic education is given as secondary importance in education hierarchy ranging from the lower level of primary education to the highest level of tertiary education. Its importance has not been given as important as others established subjects like mathematics, business and others. This paper therefore, aim to analyse and highlight the significance of the theory and practice of image-based subject as important as others subjects in the formal education sphere. This paper can be concluded that visual images in education lies between two continua – the theory of epistemology (knowledge) and the theory of learning. The study argues that the importance of visual images in education provides significant opportunities for the development of individuals and for social, cultural and economic development. Photographic education can provide a platform for visual intelligence competencies of visual thinkers, specialist visual practitioners and contributes to visual literacy. Finally, photographic education is recommended to become as one of the subjects to offer at various levels of lower, middle and tertiary education in the formal education system.