I recently met a man that has retired from firefighting and has become a volunteer with a local team made up of mostly doctors and nurses that raises money and travels to disasters to help with the immediate needs of the survivors. A truly well lived life with just that in his resume I think, but he has also taught himself photography in order to contribute to the production of pamphlets and newsletters sent to contributors in hopes of conveying the severity of the different situations the team is encountering and in hopes of getting contributions. His photos save lives in the long and short of it.
I asked him why the choice to print still photos with text as opposed to emailing videos with narration or sending out DVD's and he made a great point:
the video works, but without the act of loading it and playing it or reopening the email it gets maybe one look and then goes away. The still shots sit on a desk or hang on a fridge or get passed around at a break table. The effort of reopening an email or reloading a DVD is hopefully replaced by the effort of transferring some funds.
Pretty smart, and a great argument for the value of photography in a video world.
