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Fake images

It is not wat it seems to be


Holidays

Long, long time ago, after spending the holidays, you had to wait for the results of your pictures at least a week. There was always a risk of having blurred pictures or no pictures at all in the end. I heard this sad story the other day of someone who had made a long journey through Scandinavia in this analogue time. He had dozens of rolls with thousands of yet unrevealed pictures taken to the photoshop for developing. Finally he bursted into tears hearing the guy from the photoshop say that all images were black and blue. A real drama, I can tell you. 

Noorderlicht, House of Photography

In the nineties of the 20th century, digital photography began to introduce a revolutionary change of image culture. One of the first institutions that experimented with this in public exhibitions was the Noorderlicht, House of Photography for which I am working with pleasure at the moment. institution organizes festivals, exhibitions and publishes books. It is a network organization which composes engaged stories and seeks professional photographers for imagining these. Therefore Noorderlicht has carefully built up a global network of photographers in the 25 years of its existence.In the nineties of the 20th century, digital photography began to introduce a revolutionary change of image culture. One of the first institutions that experimented with this in public exhibitions was the #Noorderlicht, House of #Photography for which I am working with pleasure at the moment. This institution organizes festivals, exhibitions and publishes books. It is a network organization which composes engaged stories and seeks professional photographers for imagining these. Therefore Noorderlicht has carefully built up a global network of photographers in the 25 years of its existence.

Manipulation

In the meantime, the position of photography has changed further. Everybody takes #pictures and sends them with enthusiasm to the world. The image seems to be the most important means of human #communication. That has a nice side, because images often say much more than text alone. But the other side of the coin justifies care. The increasingly and professionally manipulated image causes a false representation of things. In addition, it is especially the professionalism of the tools which causes this risks. Each amateur can make very professional looking material that can only be distinguished by the true connoisseur. And even that is not sure. There are more and more images that take the place of reality from which they originated.

In other words, nothing has to be what it seems. This will affect the #image #communication more and more, making it difficult for the recipient to be able to interpret what he sees.

Nonsense

These manipulated images support the growing stream of nonsense in disguise we meet everyday. This gives this fake news, these alternative facts as you wish, a boost in a short time. There is a visual match with fake news, so to say. That undermines trust in a world where the image is the leading tool for communication.

This development asks for a fundamental place for the arts in general and the photography in particular. To identify the image, to help people in their interpretation and to feed the sense of #ethics and #aesthetics.

Image: Former thread factory, Lynn, MA, USA