Truth, reality, and verisimilitude in photographs

The link will take you to a blog that deeply examines a question of order, truthfulness, and representation using historic war photography as a case study. The question of "staging" or manipulating reality for the purpose of capturing a visual image is important for theories of visual communication. Especially if the theorist is basing her position on the assumption of a singular reality we can all observe and agree about, Truth in the Platonic sense is assumed to be provided by a representation. Unfortunately, images tend to be partial - if they are honest, they are honest only partially, through framing for example. We need to describe terminology and assumptions about truth and facts. If an object is moved for the sake of a photograph, is the photograph less real, honest, or truthful than if no object had been moved? Define reality, facts, and truth carefully, or you may end up with meaningless dialog that doesn't lead anywhere. Cultural theorists are particularly interested in this question. Andrew Darley's Science as Culture article, for example, argues that documentary-like representations of the prehistoric world are misleading and have negative consequences on society, based on his expectation of how truth is handled in the documentary genre. Basically, he blasts the BBC series, Walking with Dinosaurs. A useful tool for visual theorists is, rather than to choose one perspective and cling to it, to develop a spectrum of perspectives and recognize the potential value of each. Then, choose one and cling to it. Just kidding.