Award winning photojournalist admits doctoring and appropriating images

LDS

Sep 14, 2012
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Souvid Datta, a young award winnig photojournalist, admitted doctoring and appropriating other photographers' images:

http://time.com/4766312/souvid-datta/

It looks PhotoShop and online digital archives are a big temptation :(

Update: he is among the photographers selected for the next season of "Master of Photography" show. It looks the producers of the show became aware of the matter only after the show was filmed, and are trying to understand how to deal about it.
 

Maximilian

The dark side - I've been there
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Once again:
Never trust any picture you haven't photoshopped yourself! ::)


Don't get me wrong:
Everybody is allowed to do whatever they like with camera and PP software - as long as it's legal. ;)
BUT they shouldn't claim to do "pure" work, esp. when they are into news, journalism or any kind of documentation.
Esp. in these topics they should highlight this information (in bold red?) if they feel that it is needed for their work.

Once again:
Of course once again the question is, what action is already "modifying, doctoring and appropriating"?
It was discussed before but I'd say there are enough news, journalism and documentation contests that have specified similar rules.
And anybody wanting to play on that playground should (or must) stick to those rules.


By the way:
I hope that he wasn't convicted on this issue but committed it of his own accord.
If so, kudos to him doing that move.
 
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LDS

Sep 14, 2012
1,763
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Maximilian said:
Never trust any picture you haven't photoshopped yourself! ::)

Very good advice, LOL!

Maximilian said:
Everybody is allowed to do whatever they like with camera and PP software - as long as it's legal. ;)

Exactly. Fine art photographers are known to modify images, sometimes heavily - just, they are clear about it. Gursky's "Rheine II", which was sold for millions, is known to have been modified. But he doesn't pretend it's a true representation of the river. Henry Peach Robinson's famous "Fading Away" (1858, so nothing really new) is a photomontage.

Other photographers appropriate someone's else image - but again they are open about the process.

Maximilian said:
BUT they shouldn't claim to do "pure" work, esp. when they are into news, journalism or any kind of documentation.

And this is really were the issue was. The images also started a debate about ethical issues - how far photojournalists and editors can go - because of the contents of some images. Are they a true "j'accuse", or simply a way to tickle the worst morbidness of some actual media?

Maximilian said:
I hope that he wasn't convicted on this issue but committed it of his own accord.

No, he was caught. Petapixel raised the issue first, when they were contacted by a person who knew the work of Mary Ellen Mark, and found striking similarities in one of his photo. Later other images were found to have been modified, and other taken from other people's work. Only then, in the Time interview, he admitted his wrongdoing. If these are sincere apologies, or only damage control, time will tell.

Anyway, it's a warning that "what the Internet gives, the Internet takes"... appropriating may be easy, but also there's a good chance someone somewhere will notice.
 
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Maximilian

The dark side - I've been there
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LDS said:
Maximilian said:
I hope that he wasn't convicted on this issue but committed it of his own accord.

No, he was caught. Petapixel raised the issue first, ...
Thank you for this information.
I didn't take the time to fully read the article and was just skimming over the first few lines.
Tonight I will take more time.
 
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