In a message dated 1/5/03 13:06:57, ksprouse@hsc.edu writes: << ...Simply put, no photography is innocent of serious manipulation at every stage. To continue with that a bit, I would say that "truth" of the image might very well not be affected at all by the "staged" nature of the photo, depending on your interpretation. If the photo is about the romance of Paris and the liveliness of street life there, as so many post-card buyers probably understand it to be, then knowing that the couple were actors who "staged" the scene probably doesn't change that -- it is still an image that screams "Paris is for lovers" and "la scene qui passe" despite that knowledge, I would suggest. ...it still wouldn't be accurate to say that the entire scene was staged -- only the kissing couple are actors, for example, and for me the most interesting part of the photo is the reaction of the bystanders, which was not "staged" at all...>> As a photojournalist I have to disagree. The image was originally used in a magazine and, as far as I know, carried no disclaimer telling viewers it was staged. So, if I wanted to do a story on car fires, would it be ethically correct for me to set a vehicle ablaze in a busy intersection if the reactions that followed were the "truth?" If Paris was such a great city for lovers, why wasn't this great street shooter able to find a real situation to illustrate the theme with out resorting to setting something up? He certainly couldn't have sold countless reproductions of the image without a model release and compensation to the pictured couple. The point is the content of the image was a lie, regardless of arguments about choice of lens, film or post-capture darkroom work. Thet's why the term photo-illustration was coined--to account for situations where an image is staged, faked or excessively manipulated. Your example of documentary literature would depend whether the work is labeled as fiction or non-fiction, and whether the author was open about any fudging of the facts--it's a matter of ethics. Some photojournalists and reporters have been fired for alterations such as you mentioned: "characteristics of a number of different people portrayed in a single character" Read an excellent column on the ethics of staging here: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/toy_gun.html Read more columns on the ethics of photojournalism by Deni Elliot and Paul Martin Lester here: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/nppa.html Cheers, Rich Mason Photographer-at-Large <A HREF="http://www.richmason.com/";>http://richmason.com</A> See the new section: Rich on the Road
