Sex, lies and Photoshop

There is an interesting article and accompanying op-ed video and in the NY Times today on the retouching of photographs in magazines and ad campaigns.

There is a political debate happening in France about requiring any photographs that have been retouched to label themselves as such. You can read the article and watch the video here.

I think that there are compelling arguments from each side, including the following;

Dominique Issermann, a French fashion photographer, thinks that Ms. Boyer has not only misunderstood the problem, but also the nature of photography itself. “There is this illusion that photography is ‘true,’ ” she said. But a camera can easily distort reality through the use of a different lens without any retouching. “As soon as you frame something you exclude something else,” she said, adding that photographs are “a piece of reality, but the reality of the world is different.

“If someone wants to make life a success, wants to feel good in their skin, wants to be part of society, one has to be thin or skinny, and then it’s not enough — one will have his body transformed with software that alters the image, so we enter a standardized and brainwashed world, and those who aren’t part of it are excluded from society.”

grab a coffee and discuss.

Chad