ABSTRACT
The possibilities of transforming photographs by digital processing have altered our theoretical perceptions of photography to the extent that we can no longer be certain that the photograph can provide, in any way at all, evidence of states of affairs in a real
world. In part this stems from photography’s subjection to two opposing theories of representation (Wright, 1992a), discussed in Chapter 3. One of the central issues raised by digital photography is that it has the potential to undermine the documentary truth of the medium. Or, as some theorists would have it, it provides yet further evidence to undermine this truth. Not only can photographs be deliberately distorted so that their appearance radically departs from that of the scene as initially photographed but, with digital cameras, one cannot prove that the finished photograph actually corresponds to the latent image recorded by the light-sensitive surface in the camera. Even with conventional photography, where one may have recourse to an original negative, the
transmission of images across the superhighway combined with the characteristic urgency of the news media leaves little time to verify the authenticity of any image that arrives at the picture desk.
