How Do You Know What You Know?
This set, originally published in Vogue magazine apparently, is all about the makeup. (You can see the set bigger by clicking here.) The model photographed here is roughly 20yrs old at the time of the shoot, so this is an indication of what someone with a whole lot of make-up skill can do. (Her age goes from 10yrs in the top left, to 60yrs in the bottom right.)
But it’s also an illustration of just how much ‘fantasy’ is going on in our world. We can’t take anything at face value anymore. This isn’t even touching on post-production — these pictures are ‘real’. When you add the capabilities of the computer, all bets are off.
This hit me at the same time I was watching a crime photographer on TV. He said that the capacities of digital imaging offers investigators so much more information with so much more clarity than was ever possible with film. He demonstrated ‘lifting’ a dusty footprint off of a chair with far better detail that was available even by looking at it. By the time he was done with the image, you could probably even tell what brand of shoe it was!
I find it interesting that the world of photography is being pushed into hyper-reality and hyper-fantasy simultaneously. It probably says something important about the human condition. I just can’t figure out what…
December 1st, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Everything is being pushed to the extreme, not just photography! To me, it says that the end is coming — how long can we drive ourselves in opposite directions before we blow ourselves apart? Finding the truth means staying balanced. Sometimes balance means being less successful by the world’s standards — but so what? Heaven is just around the corner! (Just my thought.)
December 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I wonder about that, too. I picked photography as my example, because it’s one area in particular that I’m growing increasingly aware of. But I agree: this seems to be a growing, spreading condition. There seems to be a tending toward extremes wherever polar opposites exist.
I’m not sure if it’s the end of the world, or just the end of the world as we know it. :-)
December 9th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Incredible! wow..