to show or not to show

"I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph. The magic is in seeing people in new ways." ~Duane Michals

I can't really say that I agree with this idea totally. While I am quite committed to surprise and coming to your own conclusion while viewing a piece of work, I do think that it is very important for people to be able to look at something that is and record it as it is. What I mean by this is that photography, while art at the core for most photographers, has the potential to be so much more. It is a way to teach, inspire, and reach millions. In this respect, I think that not only should we tell people what things are and what they have been, but we should also use photography to tell what can or could be.