SOS! They’ve gone crazy!

We know that times are hard for photographers, and that’s an understatement. New models have to be developed. The press is no longer the lead player publishing reports. The number of pictures produced has been going down month after month, day after day. Rates paid have dropped dramatically. New channels have to be found, new means of distribution, and new ideas.

In parallel, the advent of digital photography has meant the end of conventional
photography, and much faster than anyone ever imagined. This revolution has introduced
new tools such as software programs for touching up photos, but what should have been
a utility simply to help out has become compulsory practice. Unfortunately so. Okay,
some contrast can be added, or a dark patch made lighter, just as it might have been
done with a photoenlarger. But instead of that, highlights are exaggerated, clouds made
dramatic, colors are fiddled, additions are made. So where does the real story go? We
saw this in Haiti, with shots of Port-au-Prince after the earthquake on January 12. Do
you remember the purple sky streaked with pink cloud in Port-au-Prince? And wasn't
the rubble dazzlingly white? The Haitians had turned gray; they weren't black any more,
and the blood was red, the color of shame.
This was a travesty of the real situation which had been transformed and rearranged
to produce whatever esthetic effect was wanted. It meant that any photographers who
chose not to indulge in such outrageous embellishment were considered to be no good.
Their sky was heavy and gray, the Haitians were black and the rubble was nondescript.
We have been told repeatedly that it is a matter of choice, the freedom to interpret
what is seen, that this has been done since time immemorial. Maybe it has. So, let's say
that we'll accept interpretation, but within limits of decency, and not to the point of
transformation.
In Perpignan, we will be raising this issue for debate, because this time, really and truly,
enough is enough!