Digital Imagery

How do digital images play a role in your day-to-day life? In your personal life? How do digital images play a role in the way you experience your world?

 I feel like the point we're at when considering technology and social media, digital images are unavoidable and something we interact with everyday even when we dont realize it. Social media falls at the top of the list, now that we have such easy access to our cell phones and the internet it seems like you'd have to really go out of your want to avoid any connection with digital images. I've taken "breaks" from social media in the past, wanting to have some distance between myself and the digital world, but sometimes its hard to skip over something thats so quick and easy to use especially when you count on it as a means of communication with people you wouldnt otherwise see everyday.

What are your thoughts on ethics and aesthetics as it relates to photojournalism and digital imagery manipulation?

Seeing a photo in the newspaper, I always used to just assume the photo was the truth. But at this point, photo manipulation software is so readily available that its hard to know whats true and whats been edited. I dont have much skill in photoshop, but can use apps on my phone to edit entire objects or people out of a photo, at this point theres no way to know whats real and whats not.

What are your thoughts on these example of these manipulated images ?

Some of these photographs and their very mood/meaning-altering edits are not at all surprising, the ones that help to paint the United States government in a brighter light, or to make a politician seem more powerful or important than they really are. 

Out of all the examples, which one do you believe has the most impact? Why?

I feel like the ones we talk about often are always celebrities photoshopping their bodies, setting this unrealistic standard for what a human being should look like. But really the ones that are most impactful and upsetting are the ones that cover real news, events that happen to all of us and affect more than just the Kardashian family, like the photos of George Bush speaking in front of a crowd that seems very excited and optimistic about the war or an image that has entire people (Hillary Clinton and another government worker), removed.