Unreal Reality

“Not everyone trusts paintings but people believe photographs.”

Ansel Adams

I see this quote from time to time and I have to wonder what St. Ansel would make of all this newfangled Photoshop business. Maybe people used to trust photographs but in these advanced times, when it’s relatively easy for anyone with decent computer skills to paste someone’s head on someone else’s body or chop photos up into a digital collage, I would think that only stupid people trust photographs any more.

I play with Photoshop some, mostly using it like us fossils would use a darkroom in the dark ages of film. I crop and adjust exposure and maybe color and contrast, but I don’t add or subtract much. It seems, well, dishonest to me.

Daquri in a Bag (©2012 by Richard X. Moore)

Still, sometimes I can’t resist crossing the line. I don’t have to wish I learned how to paint anymore, Photoshop does it for me. I can turn a fairly ordinary photograph into a beautifully rendered pastel drawing now in about 5 minutes.

It feels naughty to mebut maybe I’m just clinging to the past. Maybe it’s time to move on.

Time is the assassin who stalks us all.