At What Point?
At what point do we say, "Enough!"? There have been several instances of falsified photographs coming out of Lebanon. There have been serious questions about the integrity of some shots. The media has chosen to largely ignore the problems. But now, professional photographers are beginning to question what is going on.
Especially when people pull bodies out of graves to display them.
This is barbarism. This is manipulation of the Western press and an attempt to pump propaganda down the throat of the West. The Western media seems intent to assist, too. I mentioned before that I have some credentials as a photographer myself. I mentioned that the truly iconic photographs were few and far between. Ansel Adams took decades to assemble a body of work. But some photographers are doing so, in Lebanon, in days. Apparently by pulling the dead out of graves for a photo-op.
i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. these photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem.
At what point do we say, "Enough!"?
I think we're past that point. This is barbarism.
