[Leica] Altered Photo Ric and reality

[imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser)]

I too see many shades of gray;
and those many shades appear on many different levels.

Level one (gray areas):
Is this photo, story, documentary important?
How so?
To whom?
(personally: I don't really have much interest in golf or golfing celebs;
while others may care a great deal about the celebrity "with or without" his 
caddy.)

Level two (gray areas):
Does the alteration substantially change people's understanding of events?
Staying in the world of sports; it would seem far more egregious
to remove a goal tender as he's about to block a potential score;
thereby making it appear that the score is about to be made;
than to remove a caddy from the background
of what is essentially an environmental portrait.

Level three (gray areas):
While photographing do each one of us also edit for aesthetic and editorial 
effects?
Of course we do; with every choice of focal length, filtration, composition, 
et al;
but of course we consider our decisions to be in integrity with truth and 
reality.

I'm sure that the more we think about the "process"
of recording our experiences with words, photographs, and/or videos
the more levels we'll find, each with its own set of gray areas.

The bottom line question, which for me is only relevant to stories I feel 
are important, remains:
Do the photographer, writer, producer, editor, and publisher
work with integrity when and where it is actually important to do so?

I can't help but believe that most of us know
when, where and how the "lines" are crossed
with the intention to deceive, mislead, sell and/or rewrite history
in some significant and/or harmful way.

I find the use of photoshop,
to sell impossible standards of beauty and sexuality
to our daughters and granddaughters far more harmful and important
than blocking a caddy out of golfing celeb portrait.

But that's just me and one of my peeves. 

Regards,
George Lottermoser 
george at imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist





On Jul 20, 2010, at 2:17 PM, Ric Carter wrote:

> i'm seeing many shades of gray where some are seeing black & white