Framed through photography
You may have heard the phrase "seeing is believing", but what not many people know, is that this phrase is only part of a longer quote by 17th-century historian Thomas Fuller: "seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth". The original quote suggests that we can only fully understand something by experiencing it. Nevertheless, the way the quote has been shortened gives it a new meaning and use. Instead, now the quote seems to be a sceptic way to demand visual proof or demonstration from another party, as if to say, "I don't believe your statement, until you show me otherwise". A more recent, internet-culture version of the quote is "pics or it didn't happen", which specifically asks for photographic evidence.
But what is the validity of photographic evidence today? Because not long after the invention of the camera, followed the practice of photo manipulation. Early versions of this included precise manual tampering with negatives, manipulating the exposure in the darkroom and more. Today we're all too familiar with digital photo retouching and editing software. Because of how widely accessible these tools are; it seems like we should not apply "seeing is believing" to photo's any longer.
A somewhat recent example of a tampered photo getting media attention was the Paris Hilton t-shirt moment (fig. 22). Since the early 2010's, an image of Hilton has been floating around, wearing a tank top with the words "STOP BEING POOR" on it. The image turned out to be a hoax, because when the image resurfaced in early 2021, the superstar took to social media to reveal that the shirt had said "STOP BEING DESPERATE" instead.
At the time of writing this thesis (2024), it seems like this type of photographic framing will only become easier, more popular, and more indistinguishable from reality. In the past years A.I. image generators have made huge leaps in quality and accessibility. It has become a popular trend to share weird and funny images created with such tools, on twitter. Among them, there are images of gameshow host Steve Harvey in a forest, running away from a hellish demon (fig. 23). And there are dashcam images of Actress and CEO of lifestyle company GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow, spotted on the side of a highway at night (fig. 24). The big giveaway that these images aren't real, is of course the fact that they are depicting scenes that are completely absurd. But the quality of the images themselves are freakishly convincing. Marshall McLuhan writes in his chapter "The medium is the message" that "the “content” of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium."14. Meaning that the medium in which our interactions take place has a profound influence on our behaviour, regardless of the content of said medium. Perhaps the existence of a perfectly lifelike image generator will completely change our behaviour towards visual media, and likely already has.
Marshall McLuhan and W. Terrence Gordon, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Critical ed (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2003); “Graphic Design and Visual Culture in Europe 1890-1945,” n.d.↩︎
Framed through photography
You may have heard the phrase "seeing is believing", but what not many people know, is that this phrase is only part of a longer quote by 17th-century historian Thomas Fuller: "seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth". The original quote suggests that we can only fully understand something by experiencing it. Nevertheless, the way the quote has been shortened gives it a new meaning and use. Instead, now the quote seems to be a sceptic way to demand visual proof or demonstration from another party, as if to say, "I don't believe your statement, until you show me otherwise". A more recent, internet-culture version of the quote is "pics or it didn't happen", which specifically asks for photographic evidence.
But what is the validity of photographic evidence today? Because not long after the invention of the camera, followed the practice of photo manipulation. Early versions of this included precise manual tampering with negatives, manipulating the exposure in the darkroom and more. Today we're all too familiar with digital photo retouching and editing software. Because of how widely accessible these tools are; it seems like we should not apply "seeing is believing" to photo's any longer.
A somewhat recent example of a tampered photo getting media attention was the Paris Hilton t-shirt moment (fig. 22). Since the early 2010's, an image of Hilton has been floating around, wearing a tank top with the words "STOP BEING POOR" on it. The image turned out to be a hoax, because when the image resurfaced in early 2021, the superstar took to social media to reveal that the shirt had said "STOP BEING DESPERATE" instead.
At the time of writing this thesis (2024), it seems like this type of photographic framing will only become easier, more popular, and more indistinguishable from reality. In the past years A.I. image generators have made huge leaps in quality and accessibility. It has become a popular trend to share weird and funny images created with such tools, on twitter. Among them, there are images of gameshow host Steve Harvey in a forest, running away from a hellish demon (fig. 23). And there are dashcam images of Actress and CEO of lifestyle company GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow, spotted on the side of a highway at night (fig. 24). The big giveaway that these images aren't real, is of course the fact that they are depicting scenes that are completely absurd. But the quality of the images themselves are freakishly convincing. Marshall McLuhan writes in his chapter "The medium is the message" that "the “content” of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium."14. Meaning that the medium in which our interactions take place has a profound influence on our behaviour, regardless of the content of said medium. Perhaps the existence of a perfectly lifelike image generator will completely change our behaviour towards visual media, and likely already has.
Marshall McLuhan and W. Terrence Gordon, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Critical ed (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2003); “Graphic Design and Visual Culture in Europe 1890-1945,” n.d.↩︎
Framed through photography
You may have heard the phrase "seeing is believing", but what not many people know, is that this phrase is only part of a longer quote by 17th-century historian Thomas Fuller: "seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth". The original quote suggests that we can only fully understand something by experiencing it. Nevertheless, the way the quote has been shortened gives it a new meaning and use. Instead, now the quote seems to be a sceptic way to demand visual proof or demonstration from another party, as if to say, "I don't believe your statement, until you show me otherwise". A more recent, internet-culture version of the quote is "pics or it didn't happen", which specifically asks for photographic evidence.
But what is the validity of photographic evidence today? Because not long after the invention of the camera, followed the practice of photo manipulation. Early versions of this included precise manual tampering with negatives, manipulating the exposure in the darkroom and more. Today we're all too familiar with digital photo retouching and editing software. Because of how widely accessible these tools are; it seems like we should not apply "seeing is believing" to photo's any longer.
A somewhat recent example of a tampered photo getting media attention was the Paris Hilton t-shirt moment (fig. 22). Since the early 2010's, an image of Hilton has been floating around, wearing a tank top with the words "STOP BEING POOR" on it. The image turned out to be a hoax, because when the image resurfaced in early 2021, the superstar took to social media to reveal that the shirt had said "STOP BEING DESPERATE" instead.
At the time of writing this thesis (2024), it seems like this type of photographic framing will only become easier, more popular, and more indistinguishable from reality. In the past years A.I. image generators have made huge leaps in quality and accessibility. It has become a popular trend to share weird and funny images created with such tools, on twitter. Among them, there are images of gameshow host Steve Harvey in a forest, running away from a hellish demon (fig. 23). And there are dashcam images of Actress and CEO of lifestyle company GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow, spotted on the side of a highway at night (fig. 24). The big giveaway that these images aren't real, is of course the fact that they are depicting scenes that are completely absurd. But the quality of the images themselves are freakishly convincing. Marshall McLuhan writes in his chapter "The medium is the message" that "the “content” of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium."14. Meaning that the medium in which our interactions take place has a profound influence on our behaviour, regardless of the content of said medium. Perhaps the existence of a perfectly lifelike image generator will completely change our behaviour towards visual media, and likely already has.
Marshall McLuhan and W. Terrence Gordon, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Critical ed (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2003); “Graphic Design and Visual Culture in Europe 1890-1945,” n.d.↩︎
Framed through photography
You may have heard the phrase "seeing is believing", but what not many people know, is that this phrase is only part of a longer quote by 17th-century historian Thomas Fuller: "seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth". The original quote suggests that we can only fully understand something by experiencing it. Nevertheless, the way the quote has been shortened gives it a new meaning and use. Instead, now the quote seems to be a sceptic way to demand visual proof or demonstration from another party, as if to say, "I don't believe your statement, until you show me otherwise". A more recent, internet-culture version of the quote is "pics or it didn't happen", which specifically asks for photographic evidence.
But what is the validity of photographic evidence today? Because not long after the invention of the camera, followed the practice of photo manipulation. Early versions of this included precise manual tampering with negatives, manipulating the exposure in the darkroom and more. Today we're all too familiar with digital photo retouching and editing software. Because of how widely accessible these tools are; it seems like we should not apply "seeing is believing" to photo's any longer.
A somewhat recent example of a tampered photo getting media attention was the Paris Hilton t-shirt moment (fig. 22). Since the early 2010's, an image of Hilton has been floating around, wearing a tank top with the words "STOP BEING POOR" on it. The image turned out to be a hoax, because when the image resurfaced in early 2021, the superstar took to social media to reveal that the shirt had said "STOP BEING DESPERATE" instead.
At the time of writing this thesis (2024), it seems like this type of photographic framing will only become easier, more popular, and more indistinguishable from reality. In the past years A.I. image generators have made huge leaps in quality and accessibility. It has become a popular trend to share weird and funny images created with such tools, on twitter. Among them, there are images of gameshow host Steve Harvey in a forest, running away from a hellish demon (fig. 23). And there are dashcam images of Actress and CEO of lifestyle company GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow, spotted on the side of a highway at night (fig. 24). The big giveaway that these images aren't real, is of course the fact that they are depicting scenes that are completely absurd. But the quality of the images themselves are freakishly convincing. Marshall McLuhan writes in his chapter "The medium is the message" that "the “content” of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium."14. Meaning that the medium in which our interactions take place has a profound influence on our behaviour, regardless of the content of said medium. Perhaps the existence of a perfectly lifelike image generator will completely change our behaviour towards visual media, and likely already has.
Marshall McLuhan and W. Terrence Gordon, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Critical ed (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2003); “Graphic Design and Visual Culture in Europe 1890-1945,” n.d.↩︎