In this section of the text, Liz Wells describes the impact of the Digital Age on the genres of documentary photography and photojournalism. She discusses the ways that Photoshop and the like have vastly expanded the possibilities for extreme manipulation and creation of images, and implores the reader to decide if these progressions discredit the forms of photography which are usually considered to be the more objective or indexical genres of the medium.
Wells asks, “Does all this not destroy the claim of photography to have a special ability to show things as they are and raise serious doubts about those genres with a particular investment in the ‘real’ – documentary and photojournalism?” It is true that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish an untouched image from a doctored one; as I have suggested before, we are likely to decide if we trust an image based on its context and on what we can infer as its intended purpose. When reflecting on the broader history of photography and art, there were times in the past when people relied on other analog media, such as painting and drawing, to express reality and to distribute information. Man has since found more accurate ways to represent the real, and since then has found ways to disrupt that reality; this is a cyclical process that will continue to repeat itself. Eventually, we will develop a technology which will eclipse photography, and even that newer technology will be eclipsed by something even more advanced.
The point here is this: yes, it is true that the forms of photography which are relied upon to represent the truth are becoming harder and harder to trust as manipulation becomes more accessible and more prevalent. However, it is also important to recognize that there are contexts in which the truth trumps the parlor tricks of Photoshop, and that eventually there will be a technology that will replace photography as the new teller of truths.
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