My Own Side

The buzz of the blogosphere lately has been the use of altered and staged photos of the war in Lebanon. Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin and EU Referendum (a new blog I recently discovered) have been all over this. Just google “Reutersgate” for even more. This kind of scrutiny is long overdue, and I believe that the shudders it is sending through the news outlets is going to be healthy.

“Trust but verify” is a very appropriate attitude to have towards news. I am heartened that the verifying part has become much more possible due to the pajamahadeen. The pressure to be first in news, combined with the dangerous nature of reporting from a war zone controlled by vicious thugs like Hezbollah, has created a situation where news agencies are increasingly relying upon “stringers” to get them photographs and reports. These stringers may get the job done, but it has not been lost on the terrorists that the pressures of world opinion can accomplish more for their cause than any military victory that they can achieve. They will control the news whenever possible.

The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true, but the thousand words that a picture generates in a person’s mind is going to vary from person to person, depending on their prejudices. In other words, the story written beneath the photo depends on the author. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but words accurately describing the context and facts surrounding a photo are crucial to the correct understanding of the event depicted. Or alternately, they can be a powerful means of distorting the event, if not ethically reported.

One of the iconic photos of the Vietnam war showed a scrawny Vietnamese man kneeling down and being executed by a U.S. commander with a gun to his head. This photo helped turn public opinion against the war. It was used by the left as proof that the U.S. troops were committing atrocities against the poor, defenseless Viet Cong. If there had been even a few dozen words to go along with the photo, it would have been nice to have mentioned that the poor, defenseless Viet Cong being executed had just snuck into a home and murdered an entire family, including the mother and her children.

The reason that a photograph can be misunderstood so easily is that it is by nature a very short slice of time. A long exposure in daylight is still nearly always less than a 10th of a second. You can capture any expression you could ask for in that moment of time. A sneeze can become a cry of pain, or a look of pure rage. A brief smile in greeting at a solemn event can be captured and portrayed as proof of a politicians careless indifference to suffering. A propogandists brief show of faked anguish can be dutifully captured and broadcast worldwide, causing a potent reaction in world opinion. Or a horse can be shown as levitating off the ground.

I recently photographed a Renaissance Faire in Gig Harbor, Washington. One of my captures was the following levitating horse.

It really did levitate. At least for 1/2000th of a second.

This guy was at the Woodinville Basset Bash. I like the way he seems to be smiling.

I’m going to be on a photo vacation next week along the Oregon Coast, so posts may be spotty until I get back. Please don’t drop away, I will be back!

I went to Marymoor Park in Redmond to see Mike McGavick speak today. Mike is the GOP 2006 candidate for the Washington state US Senate seat currently held by Maria Cantwell. My immediate (and sustained) impression is that he deserves the good buzz that he has been getting.

He’s been touring the state on his “Open Mike” tour in his big red RV.

I picked up a flyer from the crowd of activists who follow him around. They rotate somewhat, I’m told, because some are paid. That seems like it’s violating the spirit of grassroots activism, but I must be young and naive. The flyer itself was quite lame. Many of the claims on it about his positions on issues were completely contradicted by his website and his answers to questions. It seems like they are just slinging the same old fear, uncertainty and doubt around as usual.

In addition to sending out people to oppose him, they have a guy who is at every one of his appearances videotaping Mike.

The Democratic Party won’t definitively rule out footage from one of these videos being used in a campaign attack ad. It doesn’t take someone very cynical to see that they are hoping for him to commit a gaffe. Fortunately, Mike is smart and savvy, while also being articulate and refreshingly straight talking.

Cantwell is considered vulnerable this election ( perhaps because we are still trying to figure out exactly what she has done for Washington) and so this race is being watched nationally as well as locally. Many Washington voters are unfortunately going to reflexively pull the big ‘D’ lever this November, but there has always been an independent streak in our demographics, and if the right candidate comes along, many will cross over. I talked to a 2004 election recount observer and he told me that he was amazed by the number of ballots that he saw where a voter had chosen Democrats right down the list, but then voted for Republican Dino Rossi for governor.

I would urge people to keep an open mind about Mike.

More pictures are available here.