Standards

PLATTSBURGH, NY - 7/6/14

(C) 2014 Luke T. Bush

A couple of people suggested to me that I should help the Ban The Bomb Trains protesters by faking an image.  (Article about the event: http://writog.blogspot.com/2014/07/meanwhile-who-was-watching-watchmen.html )

I was asked to take one shot of the protesters on the pedestrian bridge over the Saranac River with the train trestle in the background.  Then I supposed to go back when a train went through with tank cars loaded with Bakken crude, the same spot where I took the first shot, and then photo-edit them together.

Sorry.  I don't fake photos unless it's obvious fakery to make a point.

And the point is that I may be a citizen journalist/blogger but I do have journalistic standards.

When I told that to one of the suggesters he said, "Well, just label the photo that you fixed it."  He added that he could do it on his kitchen table with a cutting knife and a couple of photos.

Digital photo-editing does make things easier than the old days of prints, scissors and paste but it isn't magic.  Even the crude fake image above wasn't a snap of the fingers.  Layering was a bitch.

To create a good composite protesters-and-passing-train image both photos would have to be taken in the exact same spot with the exact same perspective and lighting.  You can see the problems involved with the above image.

Also, no one knows the train schedule.  Am I supposed to camp out all day to get the train shot?  For free?

Believe it or not I have a life.  I don't mind doing photography but not when it becomes a colossal spasm in my posterior.

Yes, the disaster at Lac-Megantic in Quebec was horrible.  But photo fakery isn't justified when raising the public's awareness about the tragedy.

Google "Lac-Megantic" and see real photos of what happened there a year ago.

And if you want special photos, don't ask me, just DIY.  You'll quickly learn how "easy" it is.

[ CREDIT: Train image - http://www.academylane.com/news/national-train-day ]