----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Whaley"
Subject: Re: WPP image disqualified
To me it seems like a great example of a difference between spirit of the
rules and letter of the rules...
Boris
It certainly is. Quite plainly put, the jury's decision was a monumentally
irrational (aka: stupid) one...
The problem with this sort of thing is where do they draw the line in the
sand?
Do they draw it at cloning out an errant foot because it "is not a subject
of the image submitted to the contest"?
What if they allow this, and next year, someone clones out something that,
while not a subject of the image, is something that makes a huge difference
to the impact of the image.
As an aside, imagine for a moment how much weaker the picture he submitted
would have been with that errant foot left in.
The press takes it on the chin every time it is discovered that a photo
published by a news agency has been manipulated by having things taken out
or added, and now they are taking it on the chin because they are not
allowing photographs that have had things manipulated or added.
I have to question how they are supposed to come to terms with this.
Would it be more fair to leave the image in place? What if it wins, but
wouldn't have wone, had the manipulation not happened (this is more likely
the scenario).
What happens if the runner up discovers that his unmanipulated photo got
beaten by one that was manipulated?
Would we be pillorying the jusdging process for not disqualifying the
winning photo at that point?
Like it or not, press photography is not about fine art, where most anything
goes. It is about presenting what was in front of the camera at any given
moment. Allowing the huge amount of manipulation that the photographer did
(monochrome and contrast enhancement) for impact is OK, it isn't altering
what was there.
Cloning details out is altering what was there, and this is something the
press has to be very careful about, whether it is a photo contest or a
picture of an Iranian missile launch (I'm certain we all remember the
derision that one generated).
William Robb
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