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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Photography Research

Blog Research:

The above blog link is one that consists of different pictures of the earth everyday and these pictures are posted by a professional photographer/teacher. The blogger describes that during one of his classes he tells his students to try and look at the trees in a way that they wouldn't at a first look. For this reason, my proposals that what photographers capture, is indeed fake. He could be teaching his students to trick themselves into thinking that there is a much deeper meaning in what they capture when in reality it is merely a large branch stretching from underneath the earth's surface.
This blog as well can serve as a supportive argument that photographers use their pictures to display something that doesn't match what it comes across as in person. Real estate is something that in pictures, is only supposed to give off a positive feeling and for that reason hides the flaws of a house or piece of land. Real estate photographers are trained and experienced enough to know how to play with lighting and angles to make it so that there are no physical cons when look at pictures of a house. There is no other intention for real estate photography, other than to make whatever is it that is trying to be sold, look good.
Similar to a real estate blog, a wedding blog's purpose is to display all the positive and joyful moments of the event.  Photographers know the lighting and background necessary to make a good picture. On a photography blog comments such as "what a wonderful day that was" are made and it is obvious that such things will be said because the photographer knows exactly how to capture the viewers emotions. This helps me understand the subject of photography because prior to my research I believed that photographers were only good with their technique, but depending on the occasion or purpose of the shoot, the photographers themselves carry emotion that they hope to inflict on the viewer.
Academic Research:
 In this site, professional photographers themselves speak on the topic of "posing" in photographs. This is done to give the photo a more dramatic effect or to "up" the emotion that one feels when they view the photo. Although photographers are trying to outdo the next photographer, an action like this is not accepted in the photography world. This also serves as justification that "fake" photography exists everywhere.
Brian Walski, a photographer for Los Angeles Times was fired after his editors found out that he combined some of his pictures to make one "better". Walski serves as a perfect example for proving that the photography is in the viewpoint of one person and one person only: the photographer. This is also an obvious instance in which photography is indeed, fake. Now it is difficult for us to believe what we see in a photograph and unfortunately, photos have lost a lot of credibility leaving us no way to discover what is occurring in the world around us.
This site from CNN blatantly supports the idea that photography is fake. When asked, professional photographers agree that "you must make the image as strong as possible" (David Allan Brandt). For this reason, when art is shot and shared with the world, people automatically think that it has had some touchups and tweeks. Non-professionals have even caught on with this trend, thanks to the invention of Instagram. Is the point of the polishing of photos to tell us that the real world isn't good enough?

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