tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post2969528882839393242..comments2024-03-27T00:32:29.877-07:00Comments on Photos and Stuff: The Scholarship of Fakeryamolitorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-67144632730531335902017-05-11T15:55:39.987-07:002017-05-11T15:55:39.987-07:00Yeah, I am sort of back and forth about the "...Yeah, I am sort of back and forth about the "literal truth of the frame". It's one of those ideas that seems right, but in the end it seems to be in the first place almost irrelevant, and in the second place the only time anyone seems to actually *care* is when they have an ulterior motive to "tear down" someone else or someone else's picture.<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-46572990774541236822017-05-11T14:25:35.394-07:002017-05-11T14:25:35.394-07:00You noted above, in response to my first comment, ...You noted above, in response to my first comment, that "... the overall picture might have been roughly right..." Isn't that one part of the problem. We seem to be much more critical of photos than we are of words. As far as my personal photo work goes, I am very much in agreement with what Karel has to say above. Well, it is a fun and fascinating topic, and that ought to count for something! :)christianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057172033456543944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-86866909824604403862017-05-11T09:04:39.046-07:002017-05-11T09:04:39.046-07:00He did misrepresent the photoshop job as something...He did misrepresent the photoshop job as something it was not, and furthermore as literally true.amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-55625801626961278162017-05-11T08:48:50.698-07:002017-05-11T08:48:50.698-07:00Actually I'm probably wrong when saying that D...Actually I'm probably wrong when saying that Datta broke the rules of the competition, cause I don't know what he submitted there. I somehow assumed that the entry contained the same picture I discussed.Karel Kravikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07244575222828011759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-31743786552330720012017-05-11T07:10:10.062-07:002017-05-11T07:10:10.062-07:00I've done a bit of documentary work (Dark Matt...I've done a bit of documentary work (Dark Matter and Scarred Land series on my website) and also some nature photography. Many of the photo enhusiasts in Estonia are nature photographers and the ones I happen to know are mostly purists - they hate plane contrails and cell phone towers more than anything, etc. Some even claim they never crop their images. At some point in my career I took pride in following similar rules. Then there was this trained wolf scandal, this image http://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/photography/photos/000/655/65519.ngsversion.1467253501745.adapt.1900.1.jpg and so on and so on. And my own thinking started to change towards telling my story however the f*** I want. Be it staged or not, photoshopped or not. Nowadays I tend to think that if people even think "how exactly he made this image" without noticing the bigger story, I've failed. It's not about how the individual image is made, it's about how the series works. Of course I realize 1) there has to be documentary photography and 2) I have nothing to do in the documentary competitions, but I can express myself the way I want. I knowingly choose not to be part of those strict and sometimes hypocritical camps.<br /><br />In this light, served differently (with context and credits), the picture where Datta cloned Asma, would be totally OK. I can imagine series where all images include parts of some other works and still be strong and serious project.<br /><br />It's still wrong that Datta broke the rules of the competition, it's wrong that he said the image is something it isn't, it's bad that he messed with such a sensitive topic, but I don't see anything wrong with creating such image in the first place.Karel Kravikhttp://www.karelkravik.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-18603635686344001152017-05-10T11:59:27.663-07:002017-05-10T11:59:27.663-07:00Thanks, I appreciate the response. I guess one thi...Thanks, I appreciate the response. I guess one thing I wanted to convey is that 'Monday Morning Quarterbacking' and 'The Scholarship of Fakery' can really lead us 'further and further from K-Mart' in many instances. I think our main defense against much of this is to constantly hone our 'critical thinking skills.' 'Smoke and mirrors, 'fake news,' propaganda, everything we hear and see has to be critically evaluated. The 'truth' ain't what it used to be, and it never was.christianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057172033456543944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-37877684211835578602017-05-10T11:22:04.490-07:002017-05-10T11:22:04.490-07:00That is a fascinating bit of personal insight. I w...That is a fascinating bit of personal insight. I wonder if the aggregate data averages out to "roughly accurate" anyways, though? Presumably you *did* have an idea, although the documentation on this skirmish might be mostly derived from the gossip about the previous skirmish, the overall picture might have been roughly right.<br /><br />Anyways. When I start making coherent blog posts, I'll start getting snippy about people making coherent comments. Until then, ramble away!<br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-72301562018898782542017-05-09T15:14:31.765-07:002017-05-09T15:14:31.765-07:00I don't have a very coherent comment to make. ...I don't have a very coherent comment to make. I now do a lot of documentary photography. Before that, I was, for a while, a young Marine Infantry Officer. During that time I had many jobs, one was being the assistant operations officer of an infantry battalion in Vietnam. One of my duties was to write the after-action reports of the battalion and to keep an official diary of daily. events. So when Captain 'Jones' and his company encountered NVA troops it was my job to, over the radio, get said Captain to tell me how many enemy troops there where, how many tanks, and where they were, and what they were doing. Most of the time, Captain 'Jones' who was a good friend, would tell me to go f*** myself. Then the Battalion Commander would be extremely annoyed with me and told me in no uncertain terms to get more accurate information. Captain 'Jones' would repeat his earlier pronouncement and I would reluctantly 'envision his predicament' and type out the diary on the ribbon less typewriter, directly unto the stencil paper. I am sure that after due course this would arrive somewhere in DC and be filed for future historians to digest at a later date and make definitive pronouncements as to exactly what had happened at the battle, just below the DMZ, between this particular rifle company and the NVA battalion from the 324-B Division.christianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057172033456543944noreply@blogger.com