ABSTRACT
We’ve got to hammer away at the idea that certain publications have uses of photographs as representations of reality. It’s not an easy road. Credibility will likely continue to erode, and our job will get harder. I’m at a loss to know what to suggest, except to be a good example, and to remind people in the “realistic photography” business that it’s in their interests to preserve this niche. We have an obligation not only to the readers of today but also in the long term. If in a hundred years someone picks up a National Geographic, or a book by Art Wolfe, or even an advertisement that purports to reflect reality, we need to find a way to inform those readers of the future that this is a document, a record of what the world was like at that moment.
