Montage: Activity 3

• As editors exercise their ever-increasing power over information control, what limits would you impose on them as to the extent to which they can manipulate the photographic image? 
• Devise a series of guidelines that will control the release of images that have been constructed for media use so that the public is aware as to the extent of the manipulation. 

The image above has been altered in a way that can send a different view on a political situation. This can be harmful as media services can basically create a situation out of nothing due to the opportunities that exist when altering images. Limits need to be created in order to provide protection against things like this.

In order for this to happen, companies should have policies that require the photographer to submit both raw photos and the edited ones along with a sort of background stamp that prevents others from making unnoticeable changes. If someone were to alter the image, the stamp would be mis-placed and look trashy. This is one way to create protection for media mis-use, but there are many others that can be thought of as well.

Montage: Activity 2

Find two examples of political photomontages that are either from a historical or contemporary source.
Discuss in what context they have been produced and how effective you think they communicate their intended message.
Discuss the techniques that have been used to assemble the examples you have chosen and offer alternative ways that the artist could have put over the same message.



Flood hood

The image above shows a subject that strongly resembles a terrorist and carrying a nuclear device away from a sort of compound. This is creating a statement that security needs to be higher considering the terrorist just grabbed a nuclear weapon and is walking away. The techniques used include a single image of the building, subject=, and background all in separate images. This clearly shows the amount of work put into it as the artist had to make all the images flow together.

Peter Kennard

This image shows two images. One being a building on fire, and the other being the Earth. The image represents the idea that humans are destroying the world by showing half the world gone and up in smoke. This was created with the overlay of the building on fire on top of the Earth with the rest of the Earth being painted black as to match space. The artist could have gotten a background with stars instead to make it more appealing.

Montage: Activity 1

• Briefly discuss why you think painters of the Victorian period might have criticized these early photomontages and why the pictures were popular with the general public. (This technique of piecing together separate images to create one picture is again very popular with both artists and the media). 
• What two reasons can you think of for this revival of an old technique? 

The idea of dramatic art work was new at the time in the Victorian period. The images were not of portrait style and instead portrayed a sort of family or community issue frozen in time using multiple images to piece together one. 

This photo represents a story that be viewed in multiple ways. The revival of this technique is interesting because the idea of bringing past styles into the modern era is becoming more consistent. It shows that the styles created in the past are still to this day enjoyed and appreciated.