A world without photographs would be, as far as images go, like the world in the early 1800's. (in my imagination a world without photographs would also be one without videos or movies.)
Story telling would once again be the way. As they say that "a picture is worth a thousand words" I think we would revert back to the thousand words. Thus, I think stories would become much more elaborate and fantastical because no one could show a picture to prove the story teller wrong.
Portrait artists would once again be in high employment, as it would be the only way to accurately take things like a family or wedding picture.
Criminals would get away with a lot more because, again, there would be no video or photo surveillance cameras to show what they had done.
Our lives would not be as documented as they are now. Everything would have to stay alive and be told through the stories passed on to one another.
Unless fortunate enough to travel the world, many of us would never see it. We would have to imagine what the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids or the Wall of China looks like. And we if we did get to see it in person, could we accurately describe what we saw and how what it made us feel to another, so they could "see" what we had?
We would never see what a diver looks like frozen in mid-air. Or an athlete mid-hurdle. Or a dancer mid-twirl. Or have the moment frozen in time after a big win. Or the second say "I do."
A world without photographs might be positive in some ways. We might be more productive with our time (because we would have no TV to watch or Facebook pics to look at) and more creative with our words. But it would be a much darker world, a less accurate world, and a world with more criminals.
And although I have heard the stories from my grandparents and love them...there is just something about that old black and white picture from 1955, with my Gramma and 5 yr. old Mom at the kitchen table, that can take me there with no words at all.
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