Σεμινάρια

Μικρόπολις - Κοινωνικός Χώρος για την Ελευθερία

2009-07-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Μικρόπολις - Κοινωνικός Χώρος για την Ελευθερία

Βενιζέλου & Β.Ηρακλείου 18, Θεσσαλονίκη

www.micropolis-socialspace.blogspot.com

Ένα κτίριο στη γωνία Βενιζέλου και Βασ. Ηρακλείου 18 άνοιξε. Άνοιξε στην πόλη. Ένα κτίριο, μικρογραφία της πόλης που θέλουμε, ένας κοινωνικός χώρος για την ελευθερία που θέλουμε. Ήρθαμε εδώ άνθρωποι που είχαμε συναντηθεί και νωρίτερα, και άλλοι που βρεθήκαμε μετά. Για να συλλειτουργήσουμε έναν χώρο που να καλύπτει τις ανάγκες μας, αλλά και τις ανάγκες όσων δεν έχουν πρόσωπο και φωνή. Για να μιλήσουμε σε πρώτο πρόσωπο, ενικό και πληθυντικό συγχρόνως.

Για να φτιάξουμε στιγμές από το μέλλον

Όχι από το μέλλον έτσι αόριστα, ούτε από το μέλλον που μας προετοιμάζουν. Στιγμές από το μέλλον όπου οι άνθρωποι δεν θα λειτουργούν με γνώμονα το κέρδος και την ανταγωνιστικότητα, αλλά με γνώμονα την κοινωνική αλληλεγγύη και προσφορά. Στιγμές και καταστάσεις ανθρώπων που καλύπτουν τις ανάγκες τους εκφράζοντας τη δημιουργικότητά τους και αναλαμβάνουν ευθύνες αυτοδεσμευόμενοι απέναντι στον κοινωνικό τους περίγυρο – καταστάσεις που θέλουν να διαγράψουν για πάντα τους καταναγκασμούς της πείνας, της βίας ή του αποκλεισμού. Αυτό θεωρούμε ότι υπηρετούν και οι δομές της αυτοδιαχείρισης, αυτόνομες και αντιιεραρχικές: την έμπρακτη αντίθεση στη μισαλλοδοξία, τον κοινοβουλευτισμό, τον εθνικισμό, τον ρατσισμό, τον σεξισμό, τον πόλεμο, τη θρησκεία, την κυριαρχία, την εκμετάλλευση.

Για να δώσουμε χώρο στην ελευθερία

Στον κοινωνικό χώρο Μικρόπολις λειτουργούν (ή θα λειτουργήσουν) αυτοδιαχειριζόμενο καφενείο / μπαρ / χώρος συναυλιών, παιδότοπος συνδιαχειριζόμενος από παιδιά, γονείς και παιδαγωγούς, αίθουσα υπολογιστών για την ελεύθερη πρόσβαση στο internet και τη διενέργεια μαθημάτων, αίθουσα εκδηλώσεων, βιβλιοθήκη / αναγνωστήριο, ομάδα προβολών, συνεργατική τροφίμων…
Όλες αυτές οι λειτουργίες υπάρχουν χάρη στο ενδιαφέρον των ανθρώπων που μέχρι τώρα συμμετέχουμε, και είναι αφενός αντιεμπορευματικές, με την έννοια πως οποιαδήποτε οικονομική συναλλαγή αποσκοπεί αποκλειστικά στη συντήρηση και ανάπτυξη του χώρου και των δραστηριοτήτων του, και αφετέρου αντιιεραρχικές, καθώς όλα τα άτομα συμμετέχουν και συναποφασίζουν ισότιμα, χωρίς αρχηγούς, αναθέσεις και αντιπροσωπεύσεις. Η γενική συνέλευση του χώρου λειτουργεί με τον ίδιο τρόπο, είναι ανοιχτή (τόσο σε άτομα όσο και σε νέες ιδέες και πρωτοβουλίες δραστηριοτήτων) και διαχειριστική (αποφασίζει για την εσωτερική λειτουργία και τις εκδηλώσεις του χώρου). Δεν είναι ούτε θέλει να γίνει πολιτική ομάδα.

Για να πραγματώσουμε την άμεση δημοκρατία

Ο κοινωνικός χώρος Μικρόπολις συνδέεται άμεσα με την εξέγερση του Δεκέμβρη. Το έναυσμα για τη δημιουργία του δόθηκε μέσα στην κατειλημμένη τότε σχολή θεάτρου. Ο Δεκέμβρης δεν ήταν όσα έδειξαν οι τηλεοράσεις, ήταν πρωτίστως όσα είδαμε με τα μάτια μας και όσα μας έμειναν σαν βιώματα: από την οργή και τις βίαιες συγκρούσεις μέχρι τις λαϊκές συνελεύσεις, τη συνδιαχείριση και τη συνύπαρξη στους δημόσιους χώρους και τους χώρους του κινήματος. Ήταν η συμπύκνωση, και η υπέρβαση συγχρόνως, αγώνων δεκαετιών, κι αποτελεί παρακαταθήκη που θέλουμε να μας θυμίζει πάντα ότι η αξιοπρέπεια και η ζωή δεν έχουν ανάγκη από κανέναν πρωτοπόρο καθοδηγητή για να μπορούν να αντιπαλεύουν τον παρόντα θάνατο. Μέσα στην κατειλημμένη σχολή θεάτρου αναγνωρίσαμε πως πρέπει να μάθουμε να διαλεγόμαστε με σεβασμό στις διαφωνίες, και συνειδητοποιήσαμε πως με όλη τη διαφορετικότητά μας μπορούμε να συλλειτουργήσουμε και να ορίσουμε εμείς τη ζωή μας, χωρίς να χρειαζόμαστε κανέναν αρχηγό. Έτσι, έγινε πεποίθηση όλων μας πως το μέλλον μας δεν μπορεί να είναι οι εκλογές, τα σκάνδαλα και η χρεοκοπημένη δημοκρατία, αλλά η Άμεση Δημοκρατία, η Αλληλεγγύη και η Ελευθερία. Η πραγμάτωση αυτών των αξιών, η διάχυσή τους έξω από τους προσφιλείς τους κύκλους, χαράζει και το «δρόμο» αυτού του κοινωνικού χώρου.

Για να κοινωνικοποιήσουμε την αντιεξουσία

Όσες και όσοι πήραμε την πρωτοβουλία και την ευθύνη για τη δημιουργία αυτού του χώρου φανταζόμαστε έναν κόσμο αλλιώτικο από τον σημερινό. Γνωρίζουμε όμως ότι δεν γεννηθήκαμε μέσα σε αυτόν. Κι έχουμε ακόμη την πικρή γνώση ότι ζούμε σε δίσεκτους καιρούς: Η κυριαρχία προσπαθεί να αντεπιτεθεί μετά τον Δεκέμβρη, να εντείνει τη συκοφαντία, τον έλεγχο και την καταστολή, να καλλιεργήσει τον ρατσισμό και την απαξίωση ανθρώπων που φτάνουν κυνηγημένοι ως εδώ, να περιστείλει το ανθρώπινο. Κι όλα αυτά μέσα σε συνθήκες μιας γενικευμένης καπιταλιστικής κρίσης, που θέλουν να μετατρέψουν σε ευκαιρία για μεγαλύτερα κέρδη, ισχυρότερους διαχωρισμούς, ευκαιρία για επέκταση της ερήμου των νοημάτων.
Κατανοούμε ότι χρειάζεται να αλλάξουμε τον κόσμο αλλάζοντας τον εαυτό μας. Και δεν έχουμε τη μαγική συνταγή – μόνο τη θέληση. Και βλέποντας γύρω μας τη χρεωκοπία του απομονωμένου/ιδιωτικού ατόμου, βυθισμένου στον ανταγωνισμό, τα κέρδη του και τη μοναξιά του, επιλέγουμε να ζήσουμε και να δημιουργούμε συλλογικά, ως άτομα για τα οποία η συλλογικότητα ή η κοινωνία είναι προέκταση του εαυτού τους.

Κι εδώ περιμένουμε (με τα λόγια του Shelley) όσες και όσους έχουν ήδη ξεκινήσει

Για ν’ αντισταθούν στην Εξουσία, που μοιάζει παντοδύναμη·
Για ν’ αγαπήσουν και ν’ αντέξουν. Για να ελπίσουν ώσπου η Ελπίδα
να δημιουργήσει από το δικό της ναυάγιο αυτό που οραματίζεται.

Σεμινάριο Φωτογραφίας 2007 - Β'

2007-12-11T23:10:00.000-08:00

Σεμινάριο Φωτογραφίας

Σεμινάριο με on-going project

1. Εν Αρχή...

Sistine Madonna (c. 1513-1516)
Oil on canvas, 265 x 196 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Τι βλέπουν;

Τι θέλουν να δουν;

The cover of the September 21, 1889, issue of Puck magazine, featuring cartoonist Tom Merry's depiction of the unidentified Whitechapel murderer Jack the Ripper.

George Lusk, President of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.

2. Φωτο-Δημοσιογραφία

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such as documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by the qualities of:

Timeliness (Χρονικότητα) — the images have meaning in the context of a recently published record of events.

Sobriety (Αντικειμενικότητα - νηφαλιότητα)— the situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict in both tone and content.

Narrative (Αφηγηματικότητα) — the images combine with other news elements, to make facts relatable to the viewer or reader on a cultural level.

Κάποτε στον Τύπο…

Εφερναν το θέμα πριν γραφτεί το θέμα
Τραβούσαν, εμφάνιζαν, ρετουσάριζαν, παρέδιδαν, υπόγραφαν
Πήγαιναν συνεχώς σε αποστολές

Θέλω θέματα και φωτογραφίες για τα θέματα…

Φέρτε μου φωτογραφίες… Δύο τρόποι:

Ψάχνω – Βρίσκω – Προτείνω
Μου προτείνουν – Μου περιγράφουν - Φωτογραφίζω

ΕΙΔΗ ΦΩΤΟΓΡΑΦΙΩΝ

Α. Φωτογραφίες Γεγονότων
Β. Φωτογραφίες Δρόμου (και Ταξιδιού)
Γ. Φωτογραφίες Διασημοτήτων
Δ. Φωτογραφίες Μόδας

Φωτογραφίες που σχολιάζουν…

Lebanon

: By Spencer Platt (Getty Images). Original caption: Affluent Lebanese drive down the street to look at a destroyed neighbourhood 15 August 2006 in southern Beirut, Lebanon

Φωτογραφίες που αποκαλύπτουν…

Display the photograph of Kim Phuc taken during the Vietnam war (see Resources section).

Ask students whether they recognise the photograph. Allow time for them to respond.

Ask them to describe what they see. Elicit responses before describing the photograph in detail:

'Here we see a nine year old girl, running naked down a road, screaming in agony from the jellied gasoline coating her body and burning through skin and muscle down to the bone. Her village in the central highlands of Vietnam was napalmed on June 8, 1972, and she took a direct hit. Two of her brothers were killed instantly.'

Explain the circumstances under which the photograph was taken. Highlight the following:

The photographer who captured the horrific moment was called Nick Ut.
The girl was covered in third degree burns all over her body and was not expected to live. Her pain was unbearable.
Nick drove her to hospital, where she would spend the next 14 months.
The photo won the Pulitzer Prize and instant fame for the subject of the photograph, Kim Phuc, who became the living symbol of innocent war victims.
Nick and Kim were reunited many years later.

As war photography and photographs of other extreme situations like famines and droughts become even more explicit, some people argue that we have seen too much, that we are desensitised.

Is the media helping us to understand the world, or should we be shielded from images of suffering?

At this very moment, over 30 wars and conflicts are raging around the world. Many of these wars go unreported, often due to political expediency or lack of interest.

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that every photograph we see tells a deeply personal story and that, sadly, there are many stories like the one we have explored today, happening right now.

Most of these terrible moments are never captured or communicated to us by journalists or photographers like Nick Ut.'

Φωτογραφίες που εξαπατούν…

GONE IN AN INSTANT: Nikolai Yezhov was once a trusted adviser of Stalin. But when he became Stalin's enemy, his image was removed from public record. These photos are part of 'Stories From Russia,' a current exhibition about the falsification of photos at the Photographers' Gallery in London.

NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON'T: After Ricky Clemons (inset) was kicked off the University of Missouri's basketball team, the athletic department removed his image from the 2003-04 basketball media guide and replaced it with an altered segment (right).

Τα θαύματα της τεχνολογίας

Διάβασε το κομμάτι του Αντώνη Καρκαγιάννη!

Νέα κοινή δήλωση Πολύδωρα-Γιακουμάτου-Μανώλη-Αρη Σπη: "Ναι, τις φωτιές τις βάζουν οι phototoshopάδες!"

...
...

Κάπου υπάρχει ακόμη Δημοσιογραφική δεοντολογία

...

Φωτογραφίες που ντύνουν-στολίζουν-νοικοκυρεύουν (περιζήτητες)

Την χρειαζόμαστε... Δεν είναι Ο,ΤΙ καλύτερο! Εξω δεν θα βρεις τόσο άνοστες φωτογραφίες...
Εχουμε ανάγκη από καλύτερες...

Σαφώς καλύτερη φωτογραφία "γενικής χρήσης"!
Τέτοιες τραβάς με μεράκι και προσωπική έρευνα...

Αυτή την έχουν όλα τα έντυπα...
Ομως και το δικό μας θέλει μία...

Αυτές μας τις δίνουν μαζί με δελτία τύπου...
Κακώς!
Θα έπρεπε να είχαμε τη δυνατότητα να τις τραβάμε εμείς...

Κι αυτή επίσης...

Εδώ το ψάξαμε λίγο παραπάνω...
Τουλάχιστον έχει στόρι!

Ασήμαντη;
Λάθος!
Πολύ σημαντική!

Καλή!
Αλλά δεν είναι φωτογραφία...
Είναι από βίντεο!

ΠΑΡΑΔΕΙΓΜΑΤΑ

Σχολιαστής – Η πίσω πλευρά των πραγμάτων

National Geographic – Η αθώα ματιά – Ανακαλύπτοντας το κοινότοτοπο

Η καμένη χελώνα και ο τοίχος που πέφτει…

Ο μαζουτιασμένος ερωδιός

Ένα κεφαλάκι της Πετραλιά

Σήμερα στον φωτο-Τύπο

Ολοι έχουν τον εξοπλισμό
Ολοι έχουν τη δυνατότητα
Ολοι είναι ΕΚΕΙ!
Ολοι δεν έχουν την ματιά, τις γνώσεις, το κριτήριο, το αισθητήριο
Ολοι δεν μπορούν να τραβήξουν Μόδα
Και κείμενα…
Και photoshopιές
Και εξοικείωση με το free-lancing
Foto-blogs
Κολλεκτίβες
Και αρχείο

i. Αντικείμενα καθημερινής χρήσης

ii. Κεφαλάκια

iii. Καθημερινά πρόσωπα

iv. Καθημερινά μέρη

Και Υφος-ύφος-ύφος
Και να είσαι ΕΚΕΙ!

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Well-known documentary photographers

U.S. documentary photographers

Jacob Riis

Bandit's Roost by Jacob Riis, 1888, from How the Other Half Lives. This image is Bandit's Roost at 59½ Mulberry Street, considered the most crime-ridden, dangerous part of New York City.
Bandit's_Roost_by_Jacob_Riis.jpeg

Lewis Hine

"Power house mechanic working on steam pump," 1920‎

Berenice Abbott

(July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991), born Bernice Abbott, was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s.

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1950) is an American photojournalist best known for his photograph, "Afghan Girl" that originally appeared in National Geographic magazine
"Afghan Girl" (Sharbat Gula) Steve McCurry's most famous picture:

Walker Evans

Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera. He wrote that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent."^{[citation needed]} Many of his works are in the permanent collections of museums, and have been the subject of retrospectives at such institutions as The Metropolitan Museum of Art^[1]

Evans' photo of Allie Mae Burroughs, a symbol of the Great Depression

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange (May 25, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography.

Lange's photo of the Japanese Relocation

Lange's Migrant Mother, Florence Owens Thompson

Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark (born, March 20, 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American photographer, known for her images which fall between social photojournalism and portraiture.

Zimbabwean woman, by Mary Ellen Mark, 1984

W. Eugene Smith

William Eugene Smith (1918-1978) was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs.

An example of W. Eugene Smith's war photography for Life.

Yank Artillery Kills Japs, 1944, silver print, ca 1944, 8 1/2 x 6 5/8.

European documentary photographers

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the "street photography" style that has influenced generations of photographers that followed.

Cartier-Bresson's Impact On Photojournalism

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare (cropped; this is a detail only)

Bill Brandt

Bill Brandt (May 3, 1904 – December 20, 1983) was an influential British photographer and photojournalist known for his high-contrast images of British society and his distorted nudes and landscapes.

ID no:: MoL_IN14473
Description:: This woman is photographed guarding her pitch in Caledonian Market. Sellers would rush through the iron gates to claim a spot where they could either set up a stall or display their goods on the ground. Second-hand shoe stalls were a typical sight amongst the array of silverware, antiques, food and bric-a-brac. Cyril Arapoff produced many images of the popular market, as did other notable photographers such as Bill Brandt, who photographed this same woman.
Object size:: whole: 214 x 139 mm
Production Date:: 1935
Maker:: Arapoff, Cyril
Copyright:: Museum of London

August Sander

August Sander (November 17, 1876 – April 20, 1964) was a German photographer.

August Sander (German, 1876–1964)

Pastrycook, 1928

August Sander
German, Westerwald, 1920
Gelatin silver print
10 7/8 x 8 15/16 in.
84.XM.126.4

August Sander
German, about 1913

August Sander (German, 1876–1964)

Eugene Atget

Eugène Atget (1857‑1927) was a French photographer noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris.

Organ Grinder (1898)

Gertrude Blom

Gertrude "Trudi" Duby Blom (1901 - 1993) was a journalist, social anthropologist, and documentary photographer who spent five decades documenting the Mayan cultures of Chiapas, Mexico, particularly the culture of the Lacandon Maya. She was also a pioneering environmental activist. Her home in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Casa Na Bolom, has been preserved as a cultural and research center devoted to the protection and preservation of the Lacandon Maya and La Selva Lacandona rain forest.

Jungle between Las Margarita and San Quintin, Tojolabal Indians 1955

Προς τι ο τρόμος στα μάτια τους; (Ενα ακόμη βλέμμα - Δήλεσι ...)

Μαρία Παντίσκα, 4 μήνες μετά τη σφαγή της μάνας της.Η φωτογραφία πρωτοδημοσιεύτηκε στο περιοδικό: LIFE στις 29.11.1994

Η Μαρία μπορεί να μην κρατάει, όπως η Μαντόνα Σιστίνα, το παιδί στα χέρια της. Κοιτάζει όμως ακριβώς στο ίδιο σημείο με εκείνη!

Τι βλέπει;

Ω, μην ανησυχείτε...

Images have become the mainstay of our experience of historical events and occasionally people have felt the need to manipulate those images to support their views or manipulate the truth. Since the advent of the Internet, we are now also seeing a large number of “photoshopped” images created for humor or popularity. This is a list of 15 of the most famous manipulated images. These images are shown in no particular order. Click images for a larger view.

15. Harding and Kerrigan skate together

This digital composite of Olympic ice skaters Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan appeared on the cover of New York Newsday. The picture showed the rivals practicing together, shortly after an attack on Kerrigan by an associate of Harding’s husband. The picture caption reads: “Tonya Harding, left, and Nancy Kerrigan, appear to skate together in this New York Newsday composite illustration. Tomorrow, they’ll really take to the ice together.”

14. O.J. Simpson Covers

In the summer of 1994, O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Smith and her friend. News publications were plastering his mugshot everywhere as it was turning out to be the trial of the Century. Notably, TIME Magazine published an edition featuring an altered mugshot, removing the photograph’s color saturation (which some accused of making Simpson’s skin darker), burning the corners, and reducing the size of the prisoner ID number. This appeared on newsstands right next to an unaltered picture by Newsweek.

13. The Shark and the Helicopter

Helicopter Shark is a composition of two photographs that gives the impression that a Great white shark is leaping out of the water attacking military personnel climbing a suspended ladder attached to a special forces UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The photo was widely circulated via email in 2001, along with a claim that it had been chosen as “National Geographic Photo of the Year”. The final edited photo was created by combining a photograph of a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter taken by Lance Cheung for United States Air Force (USAF), and a photo taken by South African photographer Charles Maxwell. While the helicopter photo was in fact taken in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, the photo of the shark was actually taken in False Bay, South Africa. There are no known sightings of Great White sharks in San Francisco Bay.

12. Tourist Guy

Soon after Sept 11th, 2001, this picture was clogging everyone’s e-mails. It is supposed to be the last picture taken on a roll of film from a camera that somehow managed to survive the decimation of everything in the Twin Towers. It was soon to be found as an altered image. Firstly, the weather on the image did not match the real weather on September 11th, 2001. Secondly, he is standing on the south tower, but the first tower to be hit was the north tower. Thirdly, the observation deck of the WTC was not open when the planes hit. Fourth, the aircraft that struck the WTC were traveling at such a velocity that only an extremely fast shutter speed would have rendered the amount of detail on the aircraft pictured. Finally, the plane on the picture is an American Boeing 757, while the planes that hit the WTC were Boeing 767s.

11. George Bush edited out

The altered image (left) was part of George Bush’s political campaign in 2004. He is digitally taken out by copying and pasting existing soldiers over the podium. Later, campaign managers would admit to the altering of the image. The Bush campaign corrected and re-shipped the campaign to TV stations.

10. Kerry and Fonda Protest

In 2004, an Anti-Kerry campaign was run to tarnish his name. This picture shows Kerry associating with Jane Fonda a vilified anti-war protester. The picture was mocked up to look like a news clipping from the ‘70s. The composite of two different images were of Kerry taken on June 13, 1971 and of Jane Fonda taken in August, 1972.

9. Lukket’s 50s RAND Computer

This image was of an entry in a photoshop contest on popular site Fark.com. The “theme” was of a picture of a submarine control panel mockup. He did such a job on the image that before the contest ended, it was already spread around the internet on bulletin boards and in emails. This caused Snopes.com (myth debunking site) to write up an article. After the snopes article, the photgraph won the contest. The image continued to confuse people from Sept. 2004-March of 2006 including newspapers like the San Luis Obispo Tribune who credited Popular Mechanics and TV and radio personalities such as “Bob and Tom”.

More after this message...

8. 2006 Lebanon War Photographs

In 2006, a reporter from Reuters was covering news about the Isreal-Lebonon conflict. This was the image he used to go with the story. “Hajj claimed he had just been trying to remove dust marks, and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under. Critics point out that this is impossible, as Hajj’s doctored image added an entire plume of smoke, duplicated several buildings, and showed a repeating pattern indicating that one plume of smoke was “cloned” several times.”

7. Katie Couric’s weight loss

In 2006, when Katie Couric announced she would be replacing Dan Rather permanently on CBS evening news, marketing was pushed forward. The picture on the right became her “official image”. A CBS photo specialist shaped Miss Couric from the original on the left. Miss Couric’s remarks were “I liked the first picture better because there’s more of me to love”.

6. Trotsky

The picture above was taken by L.Y. Leonidov on Nov 7, 1919 as the Soviet Union was celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution. In the centre is Lenin with his trade mark goatee and wearing a Soviet cap. Two people over to Lenin’s left is Trotsky wearing glasses and giving a salute. At this time Trotsky was a still a powerful figure in Russia and held the powerful chairman of the Supreme Military Council position. In 1967 in time for the V.I. Lenin in the Art of Photography, in Moscow, Trotsky and three others (Kamenev, Khalatov, and unknown) were airbrushed out of the photo.

5. Abraham Lincoln

This nearly iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln’s head and the Southern politician John Calhoun’s body. Putting the date of this image into context, note that the first permanent photographic image was created in 1826 and the Eastman Dry Plate Company (later to become Eastman Kodak) was created in 1881.

4. Josef Stalin

Stalin routinely air-brushed his enemies out of photographs. In this photograph a commissar (Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov) was removed from the original photograph after falling out of favor with Stalin.

3. Kent State

This Pulitzer Prize winning photo by John Filo shows Mary Ann Vecchio screaming as she kneels over the body of student Jeffrey Miller at Kent State University, where National Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The original photograph shows a fence post directly behind Vecchio, that was removed in the published version.

2. National Geographic

In this National Geographic magazine cover story on Egypt, the Great Pyramids of Giza, in a horizontal picture by Gordon Gahen, were “squeezed” together to fit the magazine’s vertical format. Tom Kennedy, who became the director of photography at National Geographic after the cover was manipulated, stated that “We no longer use that technology to manipulate elements in a photo simply to achieve a more compelling graphic effect. We regarded that afterwards as a mistake, and we wouldn’t repeat that mistake today”.

1. Political Correctness

Hoping to illustrate its diverse enrollment, the University of Wisconsin at Madison doctored a photograph on a brochure cover by digitally inserting a black student in a crowd of white football fans. The original photograph of white fans was taken in 1993. The additional black student, senior Diallo Shabazz, was taken in 1994. University officials said that they spent the summer looking for pictures that would show the school’s diversity — but had no luck.

Contributor: Ravyn