"But Grampa, Why Would Anyone Want a Picture That Looks Fake?"

Can You Spot the Major Flaw??, a photo by JOn's ~=:-) view on Flickr.

What is Wrong with this Picture?

This is a postcard of My Favorite… The Stratosphere. I have been looking for a decent postcard of the Stratosphere since I moved to Vegas 8-months ago! (I Like postcards as bookmarks.) I found this one, liking the shot , and angle of The Strat. But before I even picked it up to look further, I saw something that I just cannot accept, and almost did not buy it. But I decided to buy it anyhow just for the humor, and to see if anyone else notices what is incredibly wrong. The only ones who would notice, are those familiar with where The Stratosphere sits in relation to the rest of The Strip….and Know which direction is North.

This Photo of The Stratosphere was taken facing North. The trouble with that, is The Strip is South of The Strat. The Strat, taken facing North, was added to a Photo of The Strip taken facing South! And The other major flaw: The location where it is shown in this shot is at least a mile from where The Strat actually sits. Then, add to that, they chopped-out about a mile of The Strip, and moved the rest North to take the place of the missing stuff.

My Grandpa was a wonderful photographer. I almost always admired his work. He was extremely proud of his skills, and he had a right to be. He always made a point out of learning how to use your camera to capture the moment, and how to best represent what was actually the scene you were attempting to capture on film. From what I remembered of him, he was always saying to rely on your camera, and skills, not on after-the shot editing. I liked this approach, because I also believe a photo should capture, and represent what one sees when taking it. He worked tirelessly to know the abilities of his camera, and to learn what settings would create different desired effects. The skill was in the photographer, not in the editing afterwards. While many of his photos were not “perfect”, they were accurate.

One of his photographs which was framed, and hung on the wall showed a small waterfall in a stream. It was a beautiful photograph. It captured the serene beauty of this spot in nature. It captured the cool mist that hung over the mossy rocks, and even captured the crisp, clear, water. You knew that if you were to wade into that stream, it would be Very cold, yet refreshing. He captured the scene very well… But there was one problem. The part where the stream flowed as a waterfall, was feathered, and soft, instead of looking like a waterfall actually looks. I asked him why the waterfall did not look like a waterfall, but like someone had replaced it with some feathery-substance. He was patient, kind, and almost always willing to explain the way things worked. This was no exception. He explained about long-exposure, and how it made the waterfall appear soft, and fluffy, even feathery, instead of sharp, crisp, and splattering. I understood from his explanation what happened, and how it worked. What I could not understand was why he would purposely make a beautiful waterfall not look like a beautiful waterfall. He explained that people like the feathery, soft look of waterfalls in a photograph. This just totally boggled my mind. I was only a little kid, but this was setting off alarm-bells in my mind. “But, Grampa, why would anyone want a picture that looks fake?” This gave him a good chuckle. We discussed at length whether some people who liked the photos like that had never actually been in nature to see, understand, and appreciate what a real waterfall looks like. He explained that some people do not want what is real, but they would rather have something else. He also explained that the “real” photographs do not sell very well, and people want to buy the ones that are altered somehow. He often took with me to his Country Club. Inside The Club were many wonderful photographs on all the walls. He and I would talk about them, and he would explain why each was a desired photograph. He would ask me to find which ones were “actual” photographs, and which ones were “altered, or somehow not accurate”. To me, that was easy. I noticed all the little things that gave away that they had been altered. I Liked the unaltered ones. His friends also enjoyed this, because many of them had not ever given any of these photographs a glance, let alone looked at detail, or what made them popular. Grampa was happy to discuss the details, and even explain why the alterations were made, and what group of people those alterations appealed to.

It did not take me long to understand that the people who liked “fake” pictures were also the people I did not care to spend much time with. I liked people to be real, and was attracted to things that were real. I Liked honesty, even as a kid. I do not mind things that are unreal, or altered, or even illusion… as long as they are presented as such. When it bothered me was when people tried to pass off something that was not true, as a truth.

My Grampa was a great jokester, story-teller, and entertainer socially. He made sure everyone knew he was pulling their leg. He had many wonderful photographs. Some were altered, but most were captured to represent the real scene.

Portlandia Statue, on her perch above 5th St.

Long before “photoshop” became available, I remember how there was a court case in Portland that had everyone all worked-up. I do not remember what the case was about, but what I do recall is that it made headlines daily, and they made their final decision based on photographs entered as evidence. The court ruled that “Photographs do not lie”, and based the verdict on the submitted photos. The next day, on the front page of The Oregonian was a photo which proved that court’s theory wrong. There is a Huge statue titled “Portlandia” in downtown Portland. Every Portlander knows this statue, and is fully aware that it sits atop a building overlooking 5th St. She is kneeling on the roof, reaching one hand down toward the sidewalk below, as to scoop-up a tiny pedestrian passing below her. Her perch is 5 blocks west of The Willamette River. The Oregonian successfully created a photo showing Portlandia perched on The Seawall, reaching her hand into The Willamette River to scoop up some water.

I would never claim to be a professional photographer, nor would I ever claim my photos are in any way perfect. I DO enjoy photography as a passion. I have loved photography all my life. I Do take hundreds of pictures on any given day. I take pictures to capture, and preserve the moment. The fact that others enjoy what I capture is a bonus. I Currently have 18,000 photos in my Flickr page. I get an average of 1000 views a day on my photography. Many have been treasured, and coveted by those who view them. My work has been used in magazines, advertising brochures, news papers, and even used for people’s own profile pictures on their own web-pages, or social sites. My work has been in countless blogs for travel, hobbies, restaurants, humor, news and any interest you might imagine. I have been asked by artists if they may use my work to create a painting. Often, those in my life have commented I should go pro, and are amazed to find out I Never alter a single photo. I take pride in capturing the photo as it is, as real as when I was there. I do not use any editing software ever. Once I click the shutter, that is how it stays. Are my photos perfect, and flawless? Nope. Are they as real as this imperfect life, and world in which we live? Yup. That imperfect, real-life view matches how I approach life. Make it as good as you can, and take what you get, but never deny the harsh realities, and accept what it is. Make the best out of what ya got. Never claim something to be true that is not.

But many in our world call an artistic creation a photograph, and lead people to believe they are somehow an amazing photographer. If they claimed to be an artistic creator, using a photo as a starting-base, I would not object. But to claim to present a photograph, when it is not, is just a lie. Ironically, I have seen photos taken at the same time, and same place that I took a photo. Mine are straight out of the camera, the other is edited. Even posted side-by-side, the two photos cannot be identified as the same time and place, because the edited one has altered so much of what is real, and known to be normal out. They add clouds, they smooth the water, they change colors, remove reflections, add sparkle, remove glare, remove a lamp post, person, or a tree. They create an artistic creation with a photograph as a base. But what is surprising to me, is that people flock to the edited one. People seem to believe it is real, and the photographer happened to capture an amazing moment. The photographer of the edited one claims it IS a photograph, when it is in fact an artist’s creation. Our world seems to thrive on anything that is not true.

It seems that in today’s world, nobody wants to accept what is real. Magazines alter almost every photo, and on the rare occasion they actually publish an unaltered, unairbrushed photo, people are aghast at how awful the model looks. They want sensation, they do not want real.

I know many wonderful photographers. Many are professional. I do not for one second begrudge anybody who edits photos. That is their choice. I also understand many clients of the professional actually WANT a finished photo to not look like the real life. People pay for a service… in this case they know they are buying the services of a professional photographer, knowing that the finished photos will create an image that is not how they see themselves daily. That is totally fine. Those professional photographers do what they are hired to do, and they do it very well. In this situation, both the client, and the artist know what is real, and know what they are buying.

I see the joy, and excitement brought into the lives of both the client, and the artist. For many of those I know who are professionals, I even highly recommend their services. They do wonderful work, and are great at what they do. I will be the first to admit that I totally suck at photographing Humans, and often have declined when someone has asked if they could hire me for that purpose, because I know I would not capture what the client wanted…. Even IF I were to start editing, I could not do Humans justice in that area.

What Do You See When You Look At A Photograph? Are you attracted to illusion, or do you seek the real thing? Perhaps you have never really paid much attention either way.

Next time you visit Vegas, Take a look at The Stratosphere, then look at this photo. Hurts the brain, doesn’t it?

I Hope you have a Safe and Wonderful Day! Thank You for reading My Blog! JOn ~=:-)