Part One - Photograph as document: Project Five - The manipulated image: Exercise 2 - Digital technology and truth

The exercise requires us to consider whether digital technology changes how we see photography as truth and to  consider both sides of the argument making notes in our learning log.

To answer this question, you need to consider the purpose of the digital technology being used.  For my purposes, it enables me to straighten, repair exposure misjudgments, add contrast, boost colour, sharpen and crop.  I don't consider that it makes the photograph any less truthful, as all my photography is unstaged and without interference.  The closest I'll get to rearranging a scene is to kick away some rubbish or remove a leaf that might be blocking a view to a bug.  The truth from my perspective is defined by the framing, not by the technology.

But, there are other photographers, e.g. Darius Kilmczak, whose work is entirely fictional moreover surreal.  Sure, each component part of a photograph is captured truthfully, but the assembly and construction makes the result a fabrication.

Wells (2009) argues that the move towards dislocated moments in documentary photography provides more artistic reference, which may well be accurate, however, I don't see this as a step away from the truth; it is simply the truth at that moment in time from that photographer's perspective.  Of course, photography will always be subjective, as elements are excluded from the frame, but that is true of anyone reporting a scene or an account of an event, even in written or oral forms, there will be elements that are excluded.  In my view, this does not make them untruthful; more that they are snapshots of the truth.

Wells (2009) goes on to describe how digital technology enables fabricated images to be constructed.  The medium of this work is still photography, but the move is away from documentary/reportage towards pure art.  In my view this is still acceptable, but it's not about truth, it's more creative than that; just don't call it documentary/photojournalism or reportage!

References:

• Wells, L. (2009) Photography A Critical Introduction (4th Edition), Abingdon: Routledge pp 73-75 available online from http://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/oca-content/key-resources/res-files/ph4can_the_real_and_the_digital.pdf [accessed 28 September 2014]