The greatest truth and the greatest lie! Part Two.

Here we have two images of yours truly, involving basically the same pose but with completely different styles. Which is the better picture ? Which is art ?

Photograph 1: To my non-photographic mind, this is the more emotive of the two images. But this might be me projecting my feelings, as I remember the shoot. This was taken at the end of the two hour “mud shoot” where I was feeling cold, wet, filthy, tired and old. This image had no retouching…it was a simple portrait, which captured the mood and emotion perfectly. He really is getting better, isn’t he?

Photograph 2: This is probably the most flattering picture of me ever taken. It’s certainly the one I will put on my wall to piss off the “ladies who lunch” who decline to invite me to their luncheon parties because I am not attractive (for that read “symmetrical”), sophisticated or fashionable enough. Although I love this shot, and it makes me feel like I’m a million dollars, unfortunately it isn’t real. The raw image was a lot less flattering, I’m afraid.

I believe my original words to Rich were “Photoshop me Baby. The full works. I want virtual make-up, plastic skin, everything.”
So he did, amidst much muttering that this wasn’t real photography and he was only doing this under protest.
My skin has been digitally smoothed (instantly taking at least 10 years off me), he enhanced my make-up using his considerable Photoshop skills, and did all sorts of other modifications that I don’t even begin to understand. To my mind, the talent he has with Photoshop is an art-form in itself, although he doesn’t agree.

End Result = I LOOK YOUNG AGAIN!!! Hurrah !
The ability to do this is worth more than diamonds, I can tell you, and is the best way to make your partner happy! I am now living in a bubble of self-delusion where I am constantly 10 years younger than my real age, and I really do look this fabulous all of the time. I reserve the right to ignore the reality that 99% of the time I look like a swamp monster.

I would say that photograph 1 is the more artistic of the shots, and is a better photograph, although the image doesn’t do me any favours at all, and it sure as hell doesn’t make me look pretty or sexy or sophisticated. The second image does fit these three criteria IMO (although you may disagree), but it is fake.

So, I say again, which is the better picture, and which is Art ?