Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Essay on Icons as Fact, Fiction, and Metaphor





            The essay itself goes over how easy it is to “create” a photo and it hints at how important that is to the ethics of journalism, photography as documentation, and art. The article itself seems unsure on the topic itself leading the reader to these ethical questions themselves. In terms of an implied meaning, based on the change from a wet/darkroom to a digital process, the essay could be insisting that the truth and integrity behind the photography could be diminished by the digital process. Programs like photoshop and other adobe software makes it a lot easier to insert, cut-out, or change any element of any photograph in a few hours with varying results. There have been many instances where a believable edit has been leaked and used as evidence or confirmation of an event or plan of action. I can see why things like this can make people uneasy. In a time where you can take photographs from the early 1900s and colorize them. The article briefly mentions our impulse and desire for perfection in reality and how it can be seen in a whole swath of historical photos. That fact allows me to say with confidence that the purpose, ethics, and morals of the artist, the journalist, and the documenter are drastically different.

            An artist only purpose is to show and create a world they wish to see. Sometimes this includes their own version of the truth. An artist has no obligation to be true to anyone but himself (and his/her clients). So, based on that idea and the fact that this article in my opinion doesn’t really touch on those ideas I will leave the artist out of this. The journalist on the other hand has a moral and ethical obligation to be truthful. Being able to use a digital program to aid in the journalistic photo editing process is great when it’s used with integrity and a desire to show the truth. Those who are looking to document a moment should only look to document that moment.

            Really though these programs have changed photography and the way we use photography they’ve given us tools to create more unique metaphors and concepts. Photoshop and programs like it have made photo editing accessible to people who didn’t have access to those abilities before. It has made the process of photo editing easier and quicker allowing for more artistic work to be made by more people. The real change comes in the physicality of a wet/darkroom versus a digital programs workspace. How real or true a photograph is is based on the person who shot the photo and edited it. Integrity and truth have nothing to do with the way a photo is edited as long as it was edited properly. Every creator has a choice in how they want to create and show their work. Some prefer perfection and idealistic concepts over the truth and that is just the way the journalistic and artistic worlds work.

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