Manipulating a Moment

The article this week was discussing the ever-growing influence of computer technologies affecting the validity of photography. We can look all the way back to Bayards ‘Self Portrait as a Drowned Man’ for falsified pictures. The application of Photoshop and other rendering processes question the once objectified photograph as Walter Benjamin puts it a “standard evidence for historical occurrences.” The tampering of images dejects the idea of “straight” photography, in which a photo represents truth, objectivity, and linear. I feel it is still important to have “straight” photography for things such as photojournalism and other truth bearing disciplines. On the other hand, the concepts of image manipulations have brought to light new forms of art. Lynn Hershman did a series of photographs that she tampered in one way or another. In this, the manipulation itself becomes the medium. The once thought of ‘objective’ picture is thrown out with the institution of collage, photocopiers, text, and digital image processing. I find these interesting because growing up with basic knowledge of computer-based image rendering programs; one can easily do such work. I myself have made images using different techniques, in which anyone can be placed anywhere in the world, essentially doing anything. There is a level of amusement with manipulating images, which is why it is so common online. Even the process of film editing with consumer-rate products have shown talented special effects. As technologies become widespread and implement simple operating systems, photo manipulations have become a common practice even on the smallest of scale.