MANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY

                                                                             "Faking It"  at  MFAH


"FAKING IT: MANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY BEFORE PHOTOSHOP"  has to be the most fascinating and inspiring exhibit I've ever seen.

It's very common today to see digitally altered photos.  But from this exhibit we find that they are nothing new.  It has been possible to modify photo images ever since photography began.  The only difference is the methods have changed.

"FAKING IT"  traces the practice of altering images from the 1840's through the 1980's.  Here lies evidence that photography is indeed a medium of fabricated truths and artful lies.  This international loan exhibition is full of captivating images that bring forth a new understanding of the history of photography and it's relation to visual truth.  Nearly every kind of photographic manipulation today was also used in the pre-digital age;  smoothing wrinkles, slimming waistlines, adding or removing people from scenes, even creating events that never really  occurred.

The pictures in "FAKING IT"  take on the realistic look of ordinary photos.  They are convincing to the eye despite the mind's efforts at disbelief.  Classic examples are pictures of a woman bathing in a glass of champagne or a man juggling his own head.  This stunning exhibit proves that the saying "the camera never lies", has always been photography's ultimate fiction.