Tell me if I'm melodramatic...

Carterofmars

Carterofmars

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I was taking the train home today from Midtown Manhattan and was looking at a new Budweiser advertisement in the subway car. It was a photo of a few ball players in action positions, and I thought to myself wow what a great shot that photographer caught. I then noticed the same few ball players in an entirely different setting and background... in the same positions. They were the same exact photos of the players. I was duped. The photos weren't real. I sudden felt really angry.

When I was a kid, my Grandfather used to tell me 'Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.'

I think for the first time I'm really starting to understand what that meant.
 
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Anytime I see or hear an advertisement I reflexively wonder "what's the catch". Any photos, sounds, or moving pictures associated with that ad, to me, are simply tools to get that "catch" past your mental safeguards.
 
photos lie. anyway, what is truth? advertising photos lie more than most.

I'd don't drink, but knocking off of work and going home at 2pm sounds mighty inviting to me (just finished tomorrow's work at 2:30am ... ugh!).
 
Carterofmars said:
I was taking the train home today from Midtown Manhattan and was looking at a new Budweiser advertisement in the subway car. It was a photo of a few ball players in action positions, and I thought to myself wow what a great shot that photographer caught. I then noticed the same few ball players in an entirely different setting and background... in the same positions. They were the same exact photos of the players. I was duped. The photos weren't real. I sudden felt really angry.
Click to expand...
Entirely apt - after all, they lied about Budweiser being beer.
 
Pretty funny!

Everything is truth, everything is a lie. When you see a red flower, you're only interpreting that flower as being red, it's not actually the truth. The human eye can only recognize a relatively limited amount of colors in comparison to what is theoretically possible. So when you say "this flower is red", it's only true to you. Likewise, a different person will likely see the flower as a different shade of red, and that is true to them. Some flowers even mimic animals to attract or deter other animals and insects. That doesn't make them a animal, it's just what it is.

(just playing the other side of the cards here)
 
Alcohol and philosophy... good combo.

I mean we all know they air brush etc. But, There may come a time when all images we see in advertising will be untrue. The more lax people become, the more permissive, then maybe we'll see more of this in newspapers, on the evening news.

When it really becomes so good that it can't be recognized; that's when I worry a bit.
 
I wouldn't get tense about it. In the Age of Photoshop, you have to assume that quite often, what you see is not what was shot. This seems to be especially true with commercial/advertising photography.
 
A week ago I saw fashion/jewelery picture in wife magazine. I thought "What a beautiful photo", you know beautiful woman, beautiful scene (on yacht), light etc.
Yesterday I saw the same woman in the same pose with other jewelery on hand and other background ;)
I felt similary to you, Carterofmars ;)
 
Studios used to use mashed potatoes instead of ice-cream cones because the real thing would melt under hot lights. A hot day on the beach... would you like a nice, refreshing lick of mashed potatoes? :D Yum.
 
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