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Photos as the Self
Jan. 1st, 2014 10:13 pmThe final South Park episode the year, "The Hobbit", was pretty funny and profound as it took aim at the narcissism of online photos of the advertising and selfie types. Wendy tried to telling her fellow students that Photoshop merely concealed the student body's imperfections. Wendy ended up being the only girl without a Photoshopped image. She ultimately gave into the pressure and created her own replacement image.
This caused me to think. Matt and Trey have an excellent point. Their point was about the distorting power of photography. The results are held up as fantasy images that cannot be obtained. Striving for them causes more harm than good. The distortion of the image becomes a distortion of the person's life. Where am I held responsible to not cross that line?
I do strive to make people look good as they enjoy dancing. I purposely put aside the shots that are not "good". These are the shots in which people are making weird faces or finding themselves in awkward positions. These are natural yes? Perhaps, but choosing to go with more graceful pictures is something I strive for. To not do so can make people the object of ridicule or jesting by their friends. Ok... is this what Matt and Trey are talking about? I don't think so. I'm not distorting the photos in a way that creates a fake reality that is unattainable. I present a flattering version of reality. It is still reality, one in which the grace and beauty of dance is presented. Beauty is what I want to show as I watch beautiful people in a beautiful pursuit.
This caused me to think. Matt and Trey have an excellent point. Their point was about the distorting power of photography. The results are held up as fantasy images that cannot be obtained. Striving for them causes more harm than good. The distortion of the image becomes a distortion of the person's life. Where am I held responsible to not cross that line?
I do strive to make people look good as they enjoy dancing. I purposely put aside the shots that are not "good". These are the shots in which people are making weird faces or finding themselves in awkward positions. These are natural yes? Perhaps, but choosing to go with more graceful pictures is something I strive for. To not do so can make people the object of ridicule or jesting by their friends. Ok... is this what Matt and Trey are talking about? I don't think so. I'm not distorting the photos in a way that creates a fake reality that is unattainable. I present a flattering version of reality. It is still reality, one in which the grace and beauty of dance is presented. Beauty is what I want to show as I watch beautiful people in a beautiful pursuit.
