Every picture may tell a story, but the veracity of its tale is no longer attested by its photographic mien. A new technology has been born which disinherits photography from its legacy of truth and severs its umbilical cord to the body of past reality. The age of prevaricating photographs is rushing upon us.
Sticky film gives way to supple information.
Bert Monroy made a picture which pointedly trumpets the demise of photographic candor. Reality Improved is a picture of the Colosseum as it might appear if less abused by the ravages of time. Yet, apart from its referent, the look of Monroy's sham is indistinguishable from the direct emanation of reality onto film. If the spurious elements could be detected at all, it would only be through a sophisticated structural analysis of visually hidden features, which is very different from scrutinizing the surface of a magnified print or negative, looking for seams. For good measure, Barthes might have been put into the picture as well to underscore how unwarranted his presumption of presence has become.