Unfortunately, this particular post is not complete. The accompanying photos have been misplaced somewhere by the hands of time, but I still wanted to archive the text.
So, I was uploading some pictures today from last year’s Trek Expo, and fooling around with the editing tools on my computer to try and turn the photos into something more than floating heads. (If you’ve never been to a con, let me tell you that there appears to be some type of concerted effort to prevent fans from getting decent pictures. Dim lighting, dark backgrounds, and dark clothing all conspire to make the photos less than perfect.)
Anyway, as I’m trying to get something close to okay, I’m reminded of the idea that “the camera doesn’t lie”. Now, folks much more clever than I have written many essays pointing out the inherent fallacy in that statement, mostly having to do with differences in choices different photographers would make while shooting the same object. Okay.
But, the thing is, when we talk about the “camera”, we’re actually talking about their end result, the “picture”. And in today’s digital age, heck, just about anybody could manipulate the end result. Look at these pictures and tell me; who was really on stage? who was to the left of whom? and just how blue were those clothes, anyway?
Just something to keep in mind the next time we’re persuaded to accept something as “true” just because we saw a picture.
