Digital BW, The Print

At 09:11 PM 5/9/03 -0600, you wrote:
>Good points Keith.
>
>I think the distinction between manipulations/alterations "after the image
>was fixed in the camera" (i.e. darkroom and or Photoshop) and manipulation
>"before the image was fixed in the camera" (i.e. filters, film choice, point
>of view, lowering the camera 6" to cut out the power lines, posing and/or
>influencing the scene - Salgado waving his fist to stop people smiling etc)
>is a false distinction.
>
>I also think that photography has always told less of the truth than we
>always liked to think. In fact I think a good part of the power of the
>photograph is found in it's inherent ambiguity.
>
>I'll see if I can find a post I made on this topic in a LF photography
>discussion.
>
>As for the "straight" (factual?) photograph, I got my technical start in
>photography doing Scenes of Crime photography - what you might consider as
>one of the most "straight " forms of photography out there. And yet the
>photographs were never allowed to stand on their own - they always required
>supporting testimony from the Scenes of Crime Officer as to their accuracy -
>which is why digital is now allowed - it always needs the statements of fact
>to go with it. It's accuracy can never be assumed. Even choice of lens tells
>the story differently.
>
>As one famous Roman said - "what is truth" - something that could easily be
>said about photography - photography tells the truth about something far
>less often than we would like to think.
>
>tim
>

Tim,

Couldn't agree more with your analogy. Part of the aim of my work is to get 
the viewer to expand on the "facts" of the picture in some way and 
re-create the "crime" scene in their imagination. I want the viewer to know 
I don't doctor the "evidence".

I think those who are quibbling about what constitutes manipulation  are 
being disingenuous and deliberately contentious when they know full well 
the common distinctions between so-called straight photography and altered 
image using techniques like montage or collage.  How one makes an image in 
regard to these distinctions isn't about quality of art, amount of 
creativity, or integrity.  It is simply a deliberate choice of means toward 
a desired result.

AZ



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