Alterations in Journalistic Photography

Photography holds a great deal of influence and impact on society. Photography can create public perception about historical events, people and places. Photography can shape people's views, distort people's realities, and create ideals. Photojournalists often control most of this power, as far as images are concerned. Photojournalists also have a commitment and duty to the public to ensure that they follow the guidelines and ethics set forth by various journalistic code of ethics. The public also has the right to know the truth, if the photograph is presented as a piece of journalistic work. The main purpose of photographs in the media is to try to tell the story without changing the reality. That means staging photographs is frowned upon and deleting objects, or people is not allowed.

"Despite the journalistic codes of ethics, many photographers have been selling their images to the news media, claiming that they have created documentary photography. Instead their work includes post production editing, especially playing with the light on the photographs". (p. 19 Smith Salgado Shooting The Truth Gordana Icevska).

Who does the public believe? Consider the two images below: Left is an Image of Bigfoot on the cover of the Weekly World News, 30 October, 2001. The image on the right is a Pulitzer Prize Winning photo of a firefighter holding a baby at the scene of the Oklahoma City Bombing, 19 April, 1995. The image on the left is obviously staged, or has been manipulated to look a certain way for the story in the publication. The photograph on the right is a true documentation of the facts. With the increase of digital and analog technologies the tools photojournalists have at their disposals make it very difficult for the public to differentiate between fact and fiction.

Left: Weekly World News Cover. Oct. 30, 2001. Right: Charles Porter. April 19. 1995. Sports News.

"According to the Code of Ethics of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) photojournalists should respect the integrity of the photographic moment. The long post production process, regardless if it is in a dark room or on a computer using Photoshop, is contrary to the basic principles of photojournalism". (p.21 Smith Salgado Shooting The Truth. Gordana Icevska).

Below is another altered image, but between the three images we can see just what lengths some photojournalists will go through in order to get their version of the perfect photograph. The final results after post-production make it very difficult for the untrained eye to detect that any manipulations have occurred. Walski’s doctored image below appeared in newspapers around the country, including The Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune. The fake would have gone undetected had it not been for an employee at The Hartford Courant, who noticed that a person in the background appeared twice within the photograph.

Brian Walski. Chicago Tribune. March 2003.

"Photographic and video images can reveal great truths, expose wrongdoing and neglect, inspire hope and understanding and connect people around the globe through the language of visual understanding. Photographs can also cause great harm if they are callously intrusive or are manipulated". (NPPA Code of Ethics. 2009).

Photojournalists with the wrong intentions can hurt the public, and over time if manipulating journalistic photographs pursues, the public will eventually loose all trust, and respect for the profession. Each time a journalist manipulates a photograph they are manipulating the audience's mind as well. Wether the photographs altered are used for propaganda, or personal satisfaction, manipulation of documentary photography is wrong, hurtful, and unjust.

The Impact of Digital Technology on Photography

Digital Society by Futurist Digital Media Images.

How Digital Technology Changed the Role of Photography in Society?

• Personal photography was popularized in the 19th and 20th century. It emerged as a social tool that was used mostly by families wanting to capture their memories and experiences in a tangible medium, for future reference, and remembrance sake. Photography also acted as a tool for communication, and a way of sharing personal experiences.
  
  

• The social and cultural impact of personal photography has rapidly increased over the last two decades. In the past people would have to stand for hours in front of photographic equipment to have their picture taken. It was also a costly endeavour, and regarded as a privilege and honour to have a photograph of yourself.

• There has been a change in the roles of photography in society beginning in the 1990's and early millennium, since the arrival of digital camera’s and digital photography. People’s focuses are changing more;

“Self-presentation – rather than family representation– is now a major function of photographs. A significant shift from personal photography being bound up with memory and commemoration towards pictures as a form of identity formation; cameras are used less for the remembrance of family life and more for the affirmation of personhood and personal bonds”.

(Barbara Harrison. 2002. p.107. Narrative Inquiry)

• More and more we can see that digital photography is being used as a form of documenting everyday experiences other than rituals, or ceremonial experiences. This shift in interest is partly due to technological advancement.

• Younger generations such as teenagers have grown up with digital photography, where as older generations have had to make the transition from analog to digital technology.

• Studies have proved that older generations are more likely to still view photography as a primary memory tool, particularly focused around family life. Teenagers and young adults are using digital photography as a means of communication, conversation, peer-building, and social networking. Through applications like; Facebook, Mysapce, Twitter, Skype, and Google Earth. The popularity in other technologies which act as multi-functional appliances, such as; Blackberry’s, Cellphones, Laptops, MP3's players, I-pods, I-phones, and global positioning devices have changed the way society communicates with one another.

This cover of Life magazine pictured on the
right, from 2005 depicts a famous photograph
by Alfred Eisentadt that appeared in a 1945

edition of Life magazine. Originally

documenting V-day celebrations

across the country.

The 2005 cover has been
manipulated to include a hand holding a
cellphone camera with the caption,
“The Cameraphone Revolution-
How This Little Gadget Will Change Your Life”.

(Photograph and digital imaging by Davies & Starr/original photography Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time Life Pictures /Time Inc./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

• Camera phones and portable satellite links increasingly allow for mobile transmission of images from almost any point on earth. Below is a Google Earth image of George Brown College, St. James campus. Google Earth is a virtual globe, map, and geographic information program. It maps the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe.

Image provided by Google Earth. 2009

The Digital era which has changed and shaped personal photography has not only been affected by rapid technological advancements, but also a change in culture and attitude.

“The shift in use and function of the camera seems to suit a more general cultural condition. This cultural condition has definitely affected the nature and status of photographs as building blocks for personal identity. Even if the functions of capturing memory, communicative experience and identity formation continue to coexist in current uses of personal photography, their re-balanced significance reverberates in crucial changes in our contemporary cultural condition”.
(Van Dijck, 1995)

What Has Been the Impact of Digital Photography on Photojournalism?

• Digital Photography has influenced photojournalism in many positive and negative ways. Are these views subjective? To many yes, and to others the facts are only black and white...
  
  
• Digital Camera's are much smaller and lighter then most analogue camera's. Photojournalists no longer have to be burdened with the hassle of lugging large heavy equipment with them to their shoot.

• With the invention of digital memory cards, photojournalist don't have to be concerned with film roll length. They can now store thousands of images on a single memory card.

• Now, if a photojournalist is equipped with a digital camera, or mobile phone, a laptop, or access to a computer they can send high quality digital images in minutes, or seconds from a remote location to a news office for printing.
  

• Photojournalist's more than ever have an assortment of tools and applications at their disposal, to document and edit their images.

• Some people worry that the profession of photojournalism is suffering due to digital technologies. There has been an increased need for ethical standards and guidelines to preserve the reliability and reputation of the profession.

• History proves that photographs have been manipulated since the 1860's, long before the invention of digital camera's and technology.

This portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (below) is a combination of Lincoln's head and the body of southern politician John Calhoun.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Portait. 1860

The new official portrait for President Barack Obama (above), is the first time that an official presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.

Photo by: Pete Souza. 2009

Photojournalists of today have been influenced in some way by the latest technology in such a way that the equipment that they use affect the outcome of their photography

Obama Hope Poster Photo digitally manipulated by: Sheapard Fairey. 2009

Work Cited:

Digital photography: communication, identity, memory. Jose Van Dijck. University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. C. 2008. Sage Publications.

Sontag, Susan (1973) On Photography. New York: Delta.

Sontag, Susan (2004) ‘Regarding the Torture of Others’, The New York Times
Magazine, 23 May: 25–9.

Van Dijck, José (1995) Manufacturing Babies and Public Consent: Debating
the New Reproductive Technologies. New York: New York University
Press

Harrison, Barbara (2002) ‘Photographic Visions and Narrative Inquiry’,
Narrative Inquiry 12(1): 87–111.

Photojournalism in the Age of Scrutiny, Kenneth Irby. Sept. 15, 2006 Online.

http://www.life.com/image/53456245

http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/new_official_portrait_released/

http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/07/28/a-look-back-at-apple-s-first-digital-camera-the-quicktake-100/

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/

http://earth.google.com/

Project By: Ashley Giesecke, Natalya Sikorsky, Shirley Yang, Sheng Zheng, Joannah Del Rosario

Photo Journal Topic 2

The first photograph I chose to analyse is a press photograph taken by Stuart Franklin, a Magnum photographer on assignment to Time magazine. The photograph is known by the world as “Tank Man”, or “Unknown Rebel”. It was shot in Beijing on June 5th, 1989 from the rooftop of a hotel. It depicts a lone man with what looks like groceries bags in his hands, standing in front of five tanks in the middle of Tienanmen Square.

photo by Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos. C.1989

The second photograph I chose is a press photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal, who was shooting for the Associated Press at the time. The photograph is entitle “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima”, and was taken on February 23rd, 1945. The photograph depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman raising the United States flag atop Mount Suribachi. The photograph took place during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II

photo by Joe Rosenthal/Associated Press. C. 1945

As for art photography, the first photograph I chose is by Man Ray, a true believer that photography is art and his photograph is entitled “Le Violon d'Ingres". It was taken in Paris in 1924. It depicts a women's body, which has been manipulated to look as if her body was a violin.

photo by Man Ray/Getty Museum. C. 1924

The Second art photograph I chose is by Sally Mann, and is entitled “Candy Cigarette”. This photograph was taken in 1989, and first published in her Immediate Family collection. It depicts a child smoking a cigarette. At first glance it is hard for the viewer to know it is made of candy.

photo by Sally Mann/Immidiate Family Collection. C. 1989

Similarities:

The first natural similarity I noticed among all of the photographs is the fact that each individual photograph evokes a certain type of emotion from me. Firstly, I feel that each photograph is beautiful within itself. To me each piece is symbolic of art, regardless of the photographer’s intention. The emotions I feel when I look at each separately range from inspired, joyful, disturbed, saddened, curious, and even depressed. Each photograph is clearly expressive, and provokes specific feelings inside of me.

Other similarities I can document include that each photograph is representational, they all portray images which are recognizable to anyone. Each photograph is visually balanced, the distribution of images in the photographs are even, thus fairly symmetrical. The compositions of all four photographs have allowed the viewer to have a central focus, and all are free of distracting background elements. Elements such as colour seem to be similar as well. None of the photographs seem to exude vibrant colours, or textures.

Lastly, I feel that each photograph tells a story, different from one another. Without any text each piece can mean something different to everyone. Although a photojournalist uses texts in conjunction with visual elements, no words are needed in order to create a story behind the images.

Differences:

The main differences between the art photographs and the press photographs is that you can identify that pre-planning, and thought went into the art photographs. They look staged. Especially “Candy Cigarette” by Sally Mann. It’s hard to believe that a child was posing in such a way holding a cigarette made of candy, with another child conveniently in the background walking on stilts. The images in that composition make for an interesting photograph, and I believe that is what the photographer was trying to create. Even Man Ray’s "Violon d'Ingres's" is quite noticeable from first glance that it has in some way been manipulated by the artist/photographer. Common sense tells you that no woman has sound holes on her body like a violin would have. Again, it makes the viewer see this photograph in a more subjective manner, and thus art is born.

The press photographs manage to capture an actual event, time, and place. If you think logically about the ‘Tank Man’ photograph you realize it would be near impossible to stage such a picture. The likelihood of staging tanks on a street is much more difficult then placing a candy cigarette in a child’s hand. The intentions of photojournalists are much different then art photographers. “A journalist...cannot be held to the demands of the photographic subject, but rather he/she must be concerned with producing accurate news for the public”. ( A Brief History of Photojournalism. Dillon Westbrook. C. 2007)

Photojournalist’s have to abide by certain ethics and codes, where as Man Ray doesn't owe the public the same ideals. The press photographs tell a real story that is accompanied by words and text when published in the media. The press photographs also present the images in an unbiased manner, free from prejudices. Where as, I feel the art photographs have a particular view in mind, a story they want to tell, not just presenting straight facts.

I want to conclude with my favourite quote from the course so far, "There are two distinct roads in photography - the utilitarian and the aesthetic: the goal of the one being a record of facts, and the other an expression of beauty.” (Galassi, 2000, p.11)

I truly believe that this quote identifies not only the purpose of both press and art photography, but the similarities and difference involved in both genres.