dcat
02-28-2008, 12:21 AM
Here's an interesting photo story.
A Chinese photographer backed by Chinese media (government) was caught red-handed photoshopping an image to portray a $4-billion worth of railway project more agreeable to environmentalists. He even gave an interview of how he waited to "capture the harmony among the Tibetan antelope, the train, men and nature." The photo, see below, even got the "Photo of the Year" award.
26290
"Photo(shop) of the Year"
The only problem was that there were few circumstantial glitches that went unnoticed to the very same environmentalists who were supposed to be silenced by the serenity of the image. It so happens that some of the endangered antelope featured in the image seemed pregnant, which was said very unlikely since the antelope in question usually don't breed at the time the photo was supposedly taken.
The result was a backlash - the photographer, Liu Weiquing, forced to quit out of guilt of being unprofessional; the award rescinded; and the Chinese media apologizing for the disgraceful affair.
I have to say, the photo(shop) image was really a work of art. Who the hell would notice antelope pregnancy in a pict? Well, i guess it's a lesson for everybody that in these days of highly diffused information it's difficult to fool people for long. http://www.timog.com/gallery/files/7/icon_wink.gif
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see Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-chinese-media-apologizes-for-photoshopped-antelope.html) and Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120363429707884255 .html?mod=yhoofront) articles about it for more details.
A Chinese photographer backed by Chinese media (government) was caught red-handed photoshopping an image to portray a $4-billion worth of railway project more agreeable to environmentalists. He even gave an interview of how he waited to "capture the harmony among the Tibetan antelope, the train, men and nature." The photo, see below, even got the "Photo of the Year" award.
26290
"Photo(shop) of the Year"
The only problem was that there were few circumstantial glitches that went unnoticed to the very same environmentalists who were supposed to be silenced by the serenity of the image. It so happens that some of the endangered antelope featured in the image seemed pregnant, which was said very unlikely since the antelope in question usually don't breed at the time the photo was supposedly taken.
The result was a backlash - the photographer, Liu Weiquing, forced to quit out of guilt of being unprofessional; the award rescinded; and the Chinese media apologizing for the disgraceful affair.
I have to say, the photo(shop) image was really a work of art. Who the hell would notice antelope pregnancy in a pict? Well, i guess it's a lesson for everybody that in these days of highly diffused information it's difficult to fool people for long. http://www.timog.com/gallery/files/7/icon_wink.gif
-------------------------
see Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-chinese-media-apologizes-for-photoshopped-antelope.html) and Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120363429707884255 .html?mod=yhoofront) articles about it for more details.