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Photography: Real or Scripted?
There has been great controversy about the validity of photographs throughout history. Many claim the images captured by photographers are posed and therefore make them false. In defense, supporters of photography stand strong and agree the photographs are valid because they are “[images] that must have existed in one form or another at some particular time.” (Media Development, 1/1988, 41-42) Regardless, photographs have been a great help in documenting history but there is without doubt the chance that the image was altered, so where does the credibility of photography stand?
Photography has been noted to have been around since 1837, though it might seem that photography has not been around fairly long, it has been a great aid in documenting the most memorable moments of history thus far. Photography has been the portal which allows humanity to view events as they occurred and because of that, we have many photographs that capture moments in history that otherwise would have been left to our imagination. One of these scenes would be the “Ruins of Hamburg fire”, taken by Herman Biow. Herman was able to capture the destruction caused by a fire in 1842 using the daguerreotype process. Though limited with the inability of being able to capture the movement with the daguerreotype, Herman’s photograph allows for the one of the first documentations of a tragedy that occurred in Germany. With time, photography advanced and the limitations were close to none. Over the next one hundred and sixty years, recording history with the camera became a popular form of documenting history. We can read about history in the books, but nothing comes close to seeing a photograph of a scene from history. The perspective is far more tangible than words can describe. With a photograph, we are able to view events as viewed by the human eye, for the camera captures only what is only real, unless the photograph has been manipulated.
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