I was reading the following article on fstoppers, “Every Photograph You’ve Ever Taken Is a Lie: Steve McCurry, Tom Hunter, and the Problem With Visual Storytellers” and the article focuses on the truth behind the photos we take, how manipulation can impact the message portrayed, and how a fictional depiction of something can still point to the truth, without the story/image portrayed being true itself.

Here is a photo I took 7 years ago, and upon my moms request, it is hanging at home because she likes it a lot (I don’t). Why did I take this photo at the time? It was to show the loneliness that this woman was experiencing, or might have been experiencing at that moment. Sitting, eating alone, looking at her phone, no one accompanying her. I took this photo with the aim of portraying the mood I saw in front of me, or what I thought was really happening in front of me.

Reading this article reminded me of this photo, and whether by taking that frame at that specific time did I actually manipulate reality? since as the article states, we “as photographers we choose what to include and what to leave out, making subjective choices in what can seem to be an objective medium“ .

Was this woman really lonely? Was whoever joined her not at the table at that moment, or where they on their way to the restaurant?

Maybe this woman is happy being alone, and therefore lonely to her is not negative but rather pleasant and enjoyable, unlike what I tried to portray in this photo.

I personally do not know what happened afterwards as I continued walking, nor did I want to look like a stalker in case she noticed me.

We are selective in our frames, in our compositins and finaly in our editing. Are we distorting reality, or we trying to get as close as possible to what we really had in mind?

Link to article — >https://fstoppers.com/documentary/every-photograph-youve-ever-taken-lie-steve-mccurry-tom-hunter-and-problem-334178

Link to Jamie Windsor Video that also discusses this point —> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nsFNUqQpJM