Vicki Goldberg’s article, “Of Fairies, Free Spirits, and Outright Frauds” made me think of the different ways in which photos can “lie.” Photos can be lies in themselves or they can capture a set up or arranged situation that is the lie. It is interesting to me that the fairy photos are not manipulated, but rather, the fairy drawings were simply attached to the trees and plants with hatpins, and then the photos were taken. Upon first looking at the photos, I had assumed that the fairies were not in the actual photo but that something had been done in the darkroom to merge the fairy drawings with the photos of the girls.
If the photograph is not doctored/manipulated in any way but it is portraying something false, is it a lie? For example, are the fairy photographs false even though the photograph is showing just what the camera saw? Is a photograph that portrays a meaning other than the truth a lie? For example, is a portrait that makes one believe the subject is happy true even if the person is not and just smiled for the second that it took to take the photograph?
When I look at photographs that seem to have been taken at just the right moment, I often wonder if the photo was staged or not. I’m not sure why, but to me I always appreciate a natural photo more than one that has been staged.
With the photos that I have been taking of sinks, I sometimes arrange the objects around the sink in order to make a more well composed photo. But I always feel a little guilty and like I should be taking the photo without changing anything. Are my sink photos lying? Should I document everything just as it is?
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