[Leica] The Truth : Was "B.D. PAW"

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Of course there's a healthy dose of validity to your point, Paul.
However, I'd suggest that there's much more 'hair splitting' than
validity. Sure, everything from choice of subject, to choice of film, to
lens used, to exposure selected alters the final image. And even more
important than that, as I tell my students there is no such thing as
"objectivity" when it comes to doing documentary work, or
photojournalism; every reporter, every photographer, brings to
everything they cover the sum of their lives to that point - all of the
education; every experience; every prejudice. All we as
photojournalists, documentarians, reporters, can attempt to do is bend
over backwards to be fair, to be honest in our approach to our subjects.

All of that said, photographs "tell the truth" about a millisecond in
time as accurately as we can tell the truth about anything.

B. D.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
P2CON@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 8:19 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: Re: [Leica] The Truth : Was "B.D. PAW"


B.D., I think you missed my point and perhaps I missed Ted's point also.
I 
was mearly pointing out that most of us quite often do not "tell the
truth" 
each time we press the shutter button.  The simple act of using B&W
film/digital 
is a deviation from the truth.  You might even say that the use of
Velvia 
strays from the truth.  I was simply pulling Ted's chain for making the
claim that 
the truth exists every time he presses the shutter release.  I know that
he 
is very experienced at producing the visual effect he wants in his
photographs, 
but I maintain that he, and you, and I, control what "truth" we print or

project, either by exposure control or thru post processing.

Regards, Paul Connet

In a message dated 3/25/2005 2:22:47 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
bdcolen@earthlink.net writes:
<<There's a difference, Paul, between the fact that different
photographers will see and capture a scene differently, and creating an
image afterwards that bears no relation to the scene. What Ted does, or
what any of us do, is see what's before us, and then do our best to
capture it. 

What someone does who puts together parts of different images is create
from scraps an image that exists only in his or her mind - like the
painter who envisions something no one has ever seen and then puts it on
canvas.

B. D >>
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