I feel that the doctoring of photographic material to produce an image of something that DIDN'T happen sets a very dangerous precedent. It would undermine faith in the old adage, "Pictures don't lie." A disclaimer in the caption will work only as long as the caption and the "photograph" are together and only if the viewer reads the caption -- and we all know that the chances of both conditions being met are not high to begin with and will decrease as time passes. Sooner, rather than later, someone will see the doctored image as fact, and it will join the many other "facts" that comprise the "truth" in the minds of many people. Disclosure: Many years ago, a young photog friend combined two of my pictures of the Reading T-1 masquerading as D&H 302 to show the locomotive crossing both over and under Starrucca Viaduct. I sent the resulting print to the folks in Newton and it appeared in either RAILFAN or RMC. However, it was obvious on the face of it that the picture was a joke, because it showed the same engine twice. And yet, the engine HAD been in both locations, so the only falsification was in time, not place. Still, I'm against the publication of computer-altered reality. Randy Brown The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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