The Age of Fakery

I grew up in the age of photographic film. I had a darkroom in the cellar. I loaded film cartridges from bulk reels, developed the film, and printed photos using an enlarger, photographic paper, and chemicals: developer, stop bath, fixer. It was a hobby I enjoyed greatly.

Because of the expense of film and developing and printing, people only took photos that meant something to them. Special occasions like birthdays and Christmas morning were where the camera would come out. Vacations—the family smiling at the beach or in the mountains—were popular targets for the film camera.

How things have changed. Now anyone can afford a digital camera, and even inexpensive phones can capture acceptably good pictures. As a consequence, a lot of junk photos are taken. Instead of taking a picture of a holiday spot, people want to take “selfies”. I don’t know why people like to take pictures of themselves. They already know what they look like. I would rather have a picture of the Grand Canyon than a picture of me with a little portion of the Grand Canyon visible behind me. But that’s me.

“Oh, here’s a picture of me at the Grand Canyon. And here’s a picture of me at Glacier Park. And here’s a picture of me with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Sorry that the view of the bridge is mostly blocked by my large head. And here’s a picture of me in front of …”

VW at the world famous Hollywood Sign, made more famous because VW is there, blocking your view of it.

VW at the world famous Eiffel Tower, made more famous because VW is in the picture with it.

It seems that most people today, especially young people, really don’t care about the scenery they’re visiting. They care about showing people what a great time they’re having. For me, shooting selfies is not photography. It’s meaningless. The selfie-shooter is literally turning his or her back on the place they’re visiting in order to snap a picture of their own face.

And despite the photos you see here, I’ve never been to the Hollywood sign nor to the Eiffel Tower. I merely composited these photos, editing myself into another picture. I even added a small amount of blur to the Hollywood sign for a depth-of-field effect. It was a quick job just for this article. I didn’t take time to make the photos look especially “real”. This kind of thing would be difficult and time-consuming to do with film, but it’s a snap in the world of digital photography. Anyone can do this kind of photographic trickery—all the tools you need are freely available online.

And forget about still photos. Now videos can be faked. Celebrities and politicians will be on YouTube saying things that they never actually said. Soon there will be no way to distinguish the genuine article from the fake. Welcome to a world that might or might not be real.