Illustration by Symbols

This is a 'thought' exercise, where we are asked to think of symbols for a range of non-physical concepts. In other words, we must think of objects of manageable size that is practical to photograph that can represent the listed concepts. There are lots of 'crime' type things that could be photographed for example, but much fewer that could be photographed on demand. A photo of a bank robbery certainly speaks of crime, but it's not something that you could purposely go out and photograph. I have chosen ideas with this in mind.

Growth.

The beginnings of a plant protruding from soil.
A group of people at several stages of development; baby, teenager, adult.
A tower under construction (perhaps hard to find!).
Someone ascending a long set of steps.
A person rock climbing.
A couple of coins, next to a stack of notes.

Excess

A cupboard overflowing with food.
Water being poured into a container which is overflowing.
A busy town centre when the bars are emptying.
A casino.
An overweight person visiting a fast-food restaurant.
A person with poorly and heavily-applied makeup.

Crime

A building with graffiti.
A dark, dilapidated street, with a police car in the foreground or background.
Armed police patroling an airport.
Security checkpoints.
The anti-theft hooks for bags under pub tables in some cities.
A key in a lock.
A closeup of 'blues and twos'
A knife being partially concealed in a pocket or behind a person's back.

Silence

A sleeping baby.
Someone alone, reading.
Somone looking out over a calm lake with no-one around.
Unplugged headphones.
A large expanse of empty space, such as a field.
A normally busy environment such as an office or factory, after hours.
Guitar with broken strings.

Poverty

A queue outside the job centre.
A homeless person on the street (a close up shot of a hand holding a tin for change would be interesting).
An image of a sink estate, specifically council tower blocks etc.
A food bank (the bank itself or signage).
Big issue seller.