As a respected news and information source, we believe in honesty and integrity in news reporting. Journalists and photojournalists must be seekers of truth. An issue that has surfaced is manipulation of photographs by prime sources as well as the media. One famous case involved National Geographic moving the pyramids of Giza in the February 1982 cover photograph. (See The Case of the Moving Pyramids)
Tampering with photographs is nothing new. It goes back as far as photography itself. Most people are familiar with totalitarian governments like the Nazis and Soviet Union altering and falsifying photos. Trotsky was erased from official photographs after he was labeled by Stalin “an enemy of the people”. (See Photo Tampering Throughout History)
But programs like Photoshop and digital cameras have brought these capabilities to almost anyone with a computer. Today one rarely sees published photographs that have not been manipulated in some way or another.
As a counterbalance to this trend, we have decided to create a new category in this magazine called As-Shot. This will feature un-edited pictures taken straight from the camera. No image manipulation. No retouching. No color balancing. No Photoshop. What you see is what was shot. No more, no less.
