In this video Errol Morris informally discusses the honest truth of photography. Morris offers a new perspective concerning photography and its connection to truth. He says that photographs are connected to the visible world and there in lays their powerful truth. A photograph has a much harder time of lying about its subject than a painting or drawing. The images created through other medias can be passed off as view points that have been twisted to the artist's intentions, unlike photographs that suggest the truth of the reality they portray.
Personally, I feel that with the introduction of photo editing software and other forms of new technology this is less true in our modern world. Errol Morris calls the photograph an instrument of truth but also says "photographs are neither true or false." Morris also mentions that he believes every photograph is "posed" in some way. He says that "there is always an elephant outside the frame," meaning that no matter what some amount of the photographer's biases and motives, whether subconscious or purposeful, are layered into the photograph. Because of this Morris says that we must always keep the photographer in mind when evaluating a photograph. For how are we to truly understand an image if we do not understand its origin?
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2011/dec/26/errol-morris-photography-video
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