The real test of a photograph is not what it means but whether it moves you. This response may well be beyond the world of nouns and adjectives, and the threshold of language. Photographs are the vocabulary of a visual language.
Before taking a picture, the last thing that I say to my subject is “Speak to me”. No response—no picture; fortunately, most of my subjects (flowers, bark, leaves, rocks, light patterns) are quite talkative.
What a curious power photographs have providing a privileged and fascinating angle of vision allowing us to recognise ourselves in the other.
Colors and shapes really make definite statements.