Staging Photos

          Almost all photos are staged in some way: some have objects deliberately placed for emphasis, some have colours brightened or darkened, some have people who are told how to pose, some are cropped in certain ways, and some pick and choose what is being shown in the picture. All of these are ways that that photos have that push and pull between truth and lie.

Were these peruvian mummies staged?

          This National Geographic photo was printed in the magazine to "[help] bring archaeology into people's homes through the pages of its magazine." According to National Geographic, these mummies and skulls were dug up in a cave in Peru in 1915 - which explains the black and white. However, these bones are obviously not in situ (I'm pretty sure the mummy wasn't sitting up and leaning on a bunch of boxes when it was found). Therefore, the photo was staged. The photographer had to decide where to put the mummies and the skulls, and this decision is inherently biased. The skulls in the photo are facing slightly away from the viewer for various reasons (modesty, not freaking people out, etc.). No other information came with the photo, so I don't know if the bodies were tied up when they were buried, but the fetal position and ropes evoke feelings of fear and sorrow - you feel bad for these mummies. The boxes in the background are a good way of propping the mummies up, but they also show some of the archaeological method (boxing up remains) - this could be good or bad for the profession. The biggest mummy is in the centre of the picture to draw your attention to it. I don't know what the rest of the dig site looked like, but the cropping also helps to draw attention to the biggest mummy.

Vladimir Putin, archaeologist?

          And then there's ways that photos can be staged for political purposes. In this photo, Vladimir Putin has just gone diving and found these two relatively-well preserved vases for the glory of Russia. The internet went crazy over this photo and people realized that it was staged. As great as Putin looks in a wet suit, he didn't actually find these vases at the bottom of the ocean - trained marine archaeologists found them. This is an example of staging a photograph for propaganda.

          What do you think of staged photos? Is one worse than the other?

          Hopefully this post helps to draw attention to some of the ways that photos are not always truthful, despite seeming that way.

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