Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/14

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Subject: Re: [Leica] OFF-TOPIC: Relocated pyramids on National Geographic cover
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 20:48:57 -0500

At 04:38 PM 9/14/99 -0400, phong wrote:
>Does anybody know which issue this was ?  Thanks in advance,

Long time ago. In fact it was two covers that were modified. The pyramid of 
Giza was moved so the photo would fit better on the cover.

No one ever criticizes the fact that the guy paid a camel driver to drive 
his camels back and forth several times in front of the pyramid, or used an 
amber gel, it just bothers them that they used a Scitex (which was in the 
map department, they didn't have their own digital imaging stuff at the time).

The other photo was adding water to the top of a picture of a man carrying 
a sewing machine on his shoulder through flood waters of Bangladesh or 
Pakistan or somewhere in that area.

National Geographic's reasoning at the time (which was flawed) was that the 
cover is advertising, and not content, so it didn't seem to them to be 
subject to the same ethical rules. They got such a backlash from the 
journalism community and public they were taken aback. They pledged it 
would never happen again. And as far as anyone knows, it hasn't. I got that 
from the horse's mouth. Rich Clarkson, former director of photography at 
National Geographic.

Photographs could always be manipulated. Airbrushing has been around for 
decades. There is no less reason to trust photos now as then. It has always 
been the journalist you must trust, not the photograph.

As the saying goes, the camera never lies, but photographers do.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO

http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

You'll get what's coming to you ... Unless mailed