photography as a weapon

Upload: luis-roberto-martinez

Post on 04-Jun-2018

229 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    1/29

    August 11, 2008, 9:14 pm

    Photography as a WeaponByERROL MORRIS

    You have your fear, which might become reality;

    and then you have Godzilla, who isreality. from the movie Godzilla: King of the Monter!

    "oing "oing# contet entry. $boingboing.net, ubmitted by %&'"()'*+'

    - almot everyone now by now, variou ma/or daily new0a0er0ublihed, on 1uly 23, a 0hotogra0h of four 4ranian miiletreaing heavenward; then (ittle Green 5ootball $ignificantly, ablog and not a daily new0a0er 0rovided evidence that the0hotogra0h had been faed. (ater, many of thoe ame 0a0er0ublihed a 6hitman# am0ler of retraction and a0ologie. 5orme it raied a erie of 7uetion about image.829 o they 0rovide

    illutration of a tet or an idea of evidence of ome underlyingreality or both< -nd if they are evidence, don#t we have to nowthat the evidence i reliable, that it can be truted3 to ?3 0ercent of our brain i doing viual0roceing. 4t# /ut 0roceing the viual imagery that come in,and if you thin about it in term of bandwidth, there i aremarable amount of information entering into our eye andbeing 0roceed by the brain. +ow, the brain am0le lie a videocamera, but >3 frame a econd, high reolution, maiveamount of information. @iion i a 0retty uni7ue ene for thebrain. 4t# incredibly 0owerful and i very valuable from anevolutionary 0oint of view. =o it# not ur0riing that it ha anemotional effect on u. %he @ietnam 6ar, the war abroad and thewar at home, ha been reduced to a few iconic image the+a0alm girl, the girl at Kent =tate. 6hat eem to emerge fromma/or event and era are one or two image that effectivelyembody the emotion and rage, the ha00ine and anger. %hewhole thing omehow i enfolded in there. %he brain i /ut verygood at 0roceing viual imagerie and bringing in memorieaociated with image.

    ERROL MORRIS: "ut tet i often brought in viually a well.

    HANY FARID: =ure, but 0roceed in a different 0art of the

    brain. =o, ye, the viual ytem ha to 0roce it, but where it#actually being 0roceed i not in the bac of the brain where theviual 0roceing i, it# on the ide of the brain. 4t# the languagecenter, which i com0letely different. -nd there are 0lenty of0eo0le out there, my girlfriend i a middle chool teacher and hetal all the time about id who are viual learner and id whoare language learner, and who are auditory. =o there# differentway of 0roceing information. "ut there# no doubt that it iremarably 0owerful. 5or eam0le, when you 0ut out a fae, lie

    the KerryA5onda one.8B9 -nd even lie thi miile one. You tart0utting it out there and aying, *h loo, thi 0icture< 4t# a fae.

    3

    http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#2%232http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#2%232
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    4/29

    %hi 0icture< 4t# a fae.! "ut you now what 0eo0le remember9 8C9

    ERROL MORRIS: 4t occurred to me, /ut with re0ect to themiile 0hotogra0h, that if the 0eo0le who Dhotoho00ed thi0hotogra0h wanted to call additional attention to it, they could dono better than what they did.

    HANY FARID: %hat# eactly right. (oo at how much attentioni being brought to it. -t the end of the day, even though theydoctored the 0hotogra0h, it how that thee guy till fired threemiile, and they ure brought a lot of attention to it.

    ERROL MORRIS: %he threat remain. 6hat are we u00oed to

    infer< 4t# a fae, o there i no need to worry< %he real threat ionly E? 0ercent of what we thought. %hree miile intead of four.

    HANY FARID: 4t raie a whole other level of informationwarfare, right< You intentionally 0ut thing out there /ut to nowthat the controvery in and off itelf will hel0 you mae your0oint.

    ERROL MORRIS: -nd ince it i a verion of chet thum0ing oraber rattling whatever you want to call it the thum0ing and

    the rattling linger on.

    HANY FARID: &a there been a re0one from the 4ranian 0rovide everal eam0le. Dhotogra0h that were ued to/utify a war. -nd yet, the actual 0hotogra0h are lowFre, muddyaerial urveillance 0hotogra0h of building and vehicle on theground in 4ra7. 4#m not an aerial intelligence e0ert. 4 could belooing at anything. 4t i the labels, the captions, and thesurrounding textthat turn the image from one thing into another.8H9

    Dhotogra0h 0reented by olin Dowell at the )nited +ation in B33>. $).=. e0artment of=tate

    Dowell wa arguing that the 4ra7i were doing omething wrong,new they were doing omething wrong, and were trying to covertheir trac. (ater, it wa revealed that the ca0tion were wrong.%here wa no evidence of chemical wea0on and no evidence ofconcealment.

    5

    http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#6%236http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#6%236
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    6/29

    Ieinter0retation of 0hotogra0h 0reented by olin Dowell, by aniel Mooney.

    %here i a larger 0oint. 4 don#t now what thee building werereallyued for. 4 don#t now whether they were ued for chemicalwea0on at one time, and then tranformed into omething

    relatively innocuou, in order to hide the reality of what wa goingon from wea0on in0ector. "ut 4 donow that the yellowca0tion influence how we seethe 0icture. hemical Munition"uner! i different from 'm0ty 6arehoue! which i differentfrom 4nternational &oue of Dancae.! %he image remain theame but we seeit differently.8E9

    hange the yellow label, change the ca0tion and you change themeaning of the 0hotogra0h. You don#t need Dhotoho0. %hat#the diturbing 0art. a0tion do the heavy lifting a far adece0tion i concerned. %he 0icture merely 0rovide the windowFdreing. %he unending erie of error engendered by falelyca0tioned 0hotogra0h are rarely remared on. J '.M.9

    HANY FARID: You are abolutely right; you don#t needDhotoho0 to editorialize. 6e can go bac to Mao and =talin andatro and Muolini, and all thee guy. -ll the dictatordoctored 0hotogra0h in order to effectively change hitory. =owhy i thi a big deal< 4 it becaue of the 0ower of viual imagery,

    the fact that it reonate o much< Maybe that will change withthe net generation. Maybe thi new generation will be thining

    6

    http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#7%237http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#7%237
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    7/29

    about image differently. %here i a avvine about whattechnology can do. Kid now are growing u0 in digital age wherethey routinely ee doctored image in their mailboe, in themedia, on televiion, and o on and o forth.

    ERROL MORRIS: "ut, a we become more and moreo0hiticated about image about how image are 0roceed haven#t we become more o0hiticated about detecting fraud3# $along

    13

    http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#14%2314http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#15%2315http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#14%2314http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#15%2315
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    14/29

    with other re0reentative of ada 'rnt, &och and&aumann, em0loyed the motto: )e Dhotogra0hy a a6ea0on.! -nd ure enough, he /uta0oed familiar 0hotogra0hicimage to create a blea 0icture of 'uro0e on the verge of war.

    $%he 0icture at left a00eared in Drague on 1une BL, 2L>. "y theend of =e0tember the Munich -greement wa igned and the=udetenland ceded to &itler. %et, 0articularly ironic tet, wa aneential element of almot all of &eartfield# 0icture. &ere itread: %hi i the =alvation %hey "ring.!

    14

  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    15/29

    -0hotomontage by 1ohn &eartfield, which a00eared in 6orer# 4llutrated +ew0a0er,1une BL, 2L>. $B33 -rtit Iight =ociety $-I=, +ew YorA @G "ildFKunt, "onn

    &eartfield changed hi name from &elmut &erzfeld becaue of hi0acifit ym0athie. -fter 6orld 6ar 4, he no longer wihed to eehimelf a German. &erzfeld, who wa fiveFfootFtwo, ued0hotomontage to tae on the %hird Ieich. &e fled "erlin in -0ril2L>>, /ut a te0 ahead of the Geta0o and went to Drague wherehe continued to wor for almot i year. 4n ecember, 2L>

    15

  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    16/29

    Germany wa demanding &eartfield# etradition and /ut aheadof the Geta0o, he fled to (ondon, where he remained for the retof the war.82H9

    &eartfield wa aed in 2LHE, the year before he died, how he gotthe idea of 0hotomontage. &e re0lied, 4 tarted maing0hotomontage during the 5irt 6orld 6ar. %here are a lot ofthing that got me into woring with 0hoto. %he main thing ithat 4 aw both what wa being aid and not being aid with0hoto in the new0a0er O 4 found out how you can fool 0eo0lewith 0hoto, really fool them O You can lie and tell the truth by0utting the wrong title or wrong ca0tion under them, and that#roughly what wa being done O! 82E9

    &e had become convinced that 0hotogra0h were being ued toell a war that had already been lot. 5or &eartfield, luringaround every image i mani0ulation. %he very real 0oibility thatimage can and will be ued a 0ro0aganda even though no$chemical or digital mani0ulation i involved. &eartfield, in oneof hi mot 0owerful image $from 2L>3, ue 0hotomontage tochallenge image and word.

    %he tet accom0anying the image829 tate: 6hoever read

    bourgeoi new0a0er become blind and deaf. -way with theetultifying bandage.!

    16

    http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#16%2316http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#17%2317http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#18%2318http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#16%2316http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#17%2317http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/index.html#18%2318
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    17/29

    -0hotomontage by 1ohn &eartfield from 2L>3. $B33 -rtit Iight =ociety $-I=, +ewYorA @G "ildFKunt, "onn

    &eartfield# 0oint i that we hould be u0iciou of what we eeand what we read of what we are told. %he eence of hi art ian attem0t to tae image uur0 them and ue them to tell adifferent tory. &e i aing u to thin of image asimage tothin of them ironically and to mae connection whereconnection were not made before. 4t i not o much e0ro0riation

    17

  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    18/29

    of image to ue a term that i currently fahionable a are0ur0oing of them.

    - imilar thing i ha00ening today. Do0 culture 0arodie of the5ourFMiile Dhotogra0h emerged almot at once. %he blog "oing"oing 0onored a contet: 4ran: You =uc at Dhotoho0!and0oted everal of the winner.82L9 %he 4ranianFGodzilla imagemight be my favorite, if only becaue it raie the 0ecter of atomicdiater. 6an#t Godzilla $according to the narrative accidentallyawaened and mutated by the atomic bomb< %he image ridiculethe 4ranian but at the ame time remind u of the 0oibility ofan a0ocaly0e in the Middle 'at< %he 0oibility of 6orld 6ar4449 P4ran# Dhotoho00ed Miile (aunch,#littlegreenfootball.com.

    82C9 4 argued againt the idea that 0hotogra0h are either true orfale in my firt eay for Noom, (iar, (iar, Dant *n 5ire.!

    82?9 %he handerchief may be the vehicle of 4ago# dece0tion, butit i 4ago who doe the deceiving.

    82H9 &eartfield urvived the war, the %hird Ieich did not.

    82E9 1ohn &eartfield,! edited by Deter Dachnice and Klau&onnef, &arry +. -bram $2LLB.

    829 &ere i 0art of the additional tet in mall 0rint on the rightide of the 0hotomontage: 4 -M - -""-G' &'-. * Y*)K+*6 MY ('-@'=< 5I*M 6*II4'= 4 -M -% MY 64%#= '+,")% 4 K''D R)4'% -+ &*D' 5*I - =-@4*)IO 4 *+#%

    6-+% %* ='' -+ &'-I -+Y%&4+G, *I %* 4+%'I5'I'64%& D)"(4 -55-4I=O!

    82L9 P4ran: You =uc at Dhotoho0,# boingboing.net.

    8B39 4 don#t want to further antagonize him by mi0elling hiname.

    Comments (52)

    E-mail this Share

    25

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30597_Irans_Pho%20toshopped_Missile_Launchhttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30597_Irans_Pho%20toshopped_Missile_Launchhttp://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/10/iran-you-suck-at-pho.htmlhttp://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/#commentshttp://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http%3A%2F%2Fmorris.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F08%2F11%2Fphotography-as-a-weapon%2Fhttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30597_Irans_Pho%20toshopped_Missile_Launchhttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/30597_Irans_Pho%20toshopped_Missile_Launchhttp://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/10/iran-you-suck-at-pho.htmlhttp://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/photography-as-a-weapon/#commentshttp://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http%3A%2F%2Fmorris.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F08%2F11%2Fphotography-as-a-weapon%2F
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    26/29

    O DEL.ICIO.US

    O DIGG

    O FACEBOO

    O !E"S#I!E

    O $ERMALI!

    %u&y 10, 2008, 9:1' (m

    In an Iran!an Iage& a M!ss!le 'ooMany

    ByMIE !I))A A!D $A*RIC "I**+

    4nthe fourFmiile verion of the image releaed 6edneday by =e0ah +ew, the mediaarm of 4ran# Ievolutionary Guard, two ma/or ection $encircled in red a00ear tocloely re0licate other ection $encircled in orange. $4llutration by %he +ew Yor%ime; 0hoto via -gence 5ranceFDree

    Latest #p(ate at ) p** EasternAgence &rance'#resse hasretracted the image as (apparently digitally altered.) *oredevelopments at the bottom of the post.

    - new 0read acro the world of 4ran# 0rovocative miiletet, o did an image of four miile heading yward in union.)nfortunately, it a00eared to contain one too many miile, a0oint that had not emerged before the 0hoto wa ued on the front0age of %he (o -ngele %ime, %he 5inancial %ime, %hehicago %ribune and everal other new0a0er a well a on ""+ew, M=+", YahooQ +ew, +Y%ime.com and many otherma/or new 6eb ite.

    26

    http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/author/dbyline/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/author/dbyline/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/author/dbyline/
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    27/29

    %he(o -ngele %ime, %he Dalm "each Dot and hicago %ribune, among other, ued theimage on their front 0age on %hurday.

    *ur home 0age at >:?H 0.m. 'atern time on 6edneday.

    -gence 5ranceFDree aid that it obtained the image from the6eb ite of =e0ah +ew, the media arm of the 4ranianIevolutionary Guard, on 6edneday. "ut there wa no ign of it

    there later in the day. %oday, %he -ociated Dre ditributedwhat a00eared to be a nearly identical 0hoto from the ameource, but without the fourth miile.

    - the above illutration how, the econd miile from the righta00ear to be the um of two other miile in the image. %hecontour of the billowing moe match 0erfectly near the ground,a well in the immediate wae of the miile. *nly a mall blacdot in the reddih area of ehaut eem to differ from the miileto it left, though there are alo ome light variation in the colorof the moe and the y.

    27

  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    28/29

    oe 4ran# tate media ue Dhotoho0< %he charge ha beenleveled before. =o far, though, it can#t be aid with any certaintywhether there i any official 4ranian involvement in thi intance.=e0ah a00arently 0ublihed the threeFmiile verion of the image

    today without further e0lanation.

    5or it 0art, -gence 5ranceFDree retracted it fourFmiileverion thi morning, aying that the image wa a00arentlydigitally altered! by 4ranian tate media. %he fourth miile haa00arently been added in digital retouch to cover a groundedmiile that may have failed during the tet,! the agency aid.(ater, it 0ublihed an article 7uoting everal e0ertbacing thatargument.

    -long with ma/or doubt about the image, -merican intelligenceofficial had larger 7uetion on eactly how many miile werefired. *ne defene official aid that at leat E, and 0oibly u0 to23S had taen flight in all, though the intelligence data wa tillbeing orted out. *nly one of them wa aid to be a =hahab >.

    %hroughout the day, everal new ite have taen te0 to diownthe 0hotogra0h that they ran on 6edneday, including(-%ime.comand M=+".com.

    4n a entiment no doubt echoed by new organizationeverywhere, an M=+" editor acnowledged that the fourFmiile0icture wa initially welcomed with o0en arm. - the mediaeditor woring the mnbc.com home 0age yeterday, 4 wafrutrated with the 7uality of a fuzzy video image we 0ublihed ofthe 4ranian miile launch,! aid Iich =hulman, the networ#aociate multimedia editor. =o 4 wa thrilled when the to0 imagecroed the new wire.!

    *ark *a++etti contributed reporting from %ashington.

    28

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24492_Iranian_Fauxtography_Bust&onlyhttp://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h02c0KdPqnRSFFVj9dn9pWaVMCJQhttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/07/iran-doctored-m.htmlhttp://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/10/1191157.aspxhttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24492_Iranian_Fauxtography_Bust&onlyhttp://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h02c0KdPqnRSFFVj9dn9pWaVMCJQhttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/07/iran-doctored-m.htmlhttp://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/10/1191157.aspx
  • 8/14/2019 Photography as a Weapon

    29/29

    %o0,the image that -gence 5ranceFDree obtained from =e0ah +ew on 6edneday. "elow,another image that %he -ociated Dre received from the ame ource on %hurday,which a00eared to be taen from the ame vantage 0oint at almot the ame time.