Pre Work - Image manipulation

As I was preparing for the exercise I found a surprising internet article from PetaPixel (http://petapixel.com/2016/05/26/photoshopped-photos-emerge-steve-mccurry-scandal/) regarding Steve McCurry. 

The articles show that McCurry has been altering some of his images using Photoshop. In the articles it states that in one image a person has been moved in the image to provide a better composition. It follows this up with an investigation into other images produced by Steve McCurry.

One example shows a change in composition where a number of people and the rear end of a bicycle have been removed from the image to improve it. In another a small number of trees have been removed from the background.

These actions are not being viewed with a kind eye by many in the industry. The NPPA ethics committee regards some of the alterations to be an ethical lapse.

Mr McCurry is a photojournalist and a travel photographer and so his images should show some truth but at the same time he is trying to provide a clear image with a clear context and narrative so the viewer can get a good idea of his aesthetic taste especially when he is presenting the image as a travel photography image rather than as a journalistic image.

He has clarified that he has used contrast and tones to alter sections of images, however the images in question on Petapixel he has stated are changes made where elements of the images were moved was wok which he did not authorize and were carried out by a no longer employed lab technician.

I am not sure where I stand on this at the moment, as on one hand this sort of action has been performed by photographers for most of the history of photography and cannot really be construed as falsifying an image. However could his alterations be as the NPPA state, change the journalistic truth of the images and how did these images get to publication without double checking them before final approval. I am left wondering how much truth should be presented within travel photography, it is okay to manipulate an image to present a clearer composition of life in that location, but should the change in elements within an image change the reality of what is being presented.

Research Point - Paul Seawright - Sectarian Murders

The piece presents a series of images with sub titles which provide background information on the murder which was carried out at that specific location.

The viewer is presented with the image, which is a normal image, the sub titles provide the context for what you are seeing, the narrative however is driven by the viewer as they are asked to provide an emotional response to both the image and the information. You are allowed to feel emotions and thoughts on both the surviving families of the victims and for the people who found the bodies. We are at no point given much information on the victim or if the murder was investigated and the perpetrators convicted, this gives me a feeling of imbalance which drives the context and the narrative.

During the video the artist states clearly that in this series he is providing nothing more than the information and that the viewer provides the narrative, I feel that this is correct.

Personally I struggled a little with these images, as I grew up in a divided sectarian environment and I have taken a lot of emotional steps to get away from this environment, so my emotional response to these images was both sadness and negative as once again I failed to understand why people do this to each other.

Research Point - Contemporary Street Photography - Does black and white make a difference.

Having read the noted articles I reviewed a number of images from the listed artists;

In a large number of cases, I found that colour was used by the artist during composition to highlight particular details within the image and it was used as a device to catch the eye and draw in the viewer.

At first black and white photography was used mainly for photojournalism and few of the images were colourised, there would have only been a small number of occasions when this would have thought to have been appropriate. With the advent of colour, photojournalism moved into the use of CYMB printing technology to allow colour images to be printed as the news providers would have been looking for colour images to provide striking, eye catching front page displays to identify themselves from their competitors. However I feel at times that colour can be overused and in some cases the colour diverts the viewer’s eye away from the central narrative.

Certainly the use of colour has help drive photojournalism away from the surreal elements of early photography, as it helps to add realism into the composition.

In the case of Martin Parr he uses irony within his street photography; he uses the idea of britishness as an ironic force to present images where there has been non integration of British people abroad.

Personally I dislike these particular images as I personally feel that Martin Parr is sneering at the uncultured.

Looking over my own recent images I prefer some of the black and white versions to the colour versions as removing the colour has removed some of the distractions and provided a better narrative for the image.