When I first started reading this book I thought I had bought the wrong book it is so different from other photography books I've read. He starts off talking about the transition into the "digital age" that we are in today and how it allows us so much freedom in photography to manipulate images. He goes on in the first chapter to say that everything has gone digital. Even music and novels. He talks about the photographic disconnect which I found very intriguing and quite true. It got me thinking that some things are more photographed and seen and desired to be seen in the 2-D rather than in reality. Which is so weird and wrong when you think about it. Like the people taking pictures of the barn. They go to the barn to take a picture. Not to take in the reality which probably this barn that will never been seen as reality once you look at the image because it's an "interpretation of the real" as stated by Ritchin.
The next chapter he goes on to explain about the manipulation of photographs which intrigues me because being a digital art major I do this daily. He goes on to explain one of the first manipulations with the national geographic and the pyramids and the controversy it caused. It's weird to think about that little thing causing controversy when you think about the kinds of manipulations we do these days. Something else he said that got me thinking was now that the era of manipulating photographs is among us we are forced to believe or question weather something is real or not. He told the story of the photographs on the subway how he began to question if this scene was real or if it even ever existed. He began to freak out a bit and it got me thinking about it a lot too. It is weird to think that you can pretty much manipulate a photograph to do anything you want and not many people would know! I think about it and I believe that's also the beauty of the digital age of photography as well.
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