Forums | MacLife

I discuss the visual meaning of the photograph, Tallie simply points out it's faked, and he gets the win?

I so disappointed in you, Schnick....

I was teasing you, SS.

You're usually more in-depth than that.....

Onthebeach wrote:

Mustapha Mond wrote:

In a similar vein (or should I say vain, since it too will no doubt be 'shopped in some people's eyes?), here's an incredible and moving article that ran in Esquire: The Things That Carried Him.

Tim O'Brien should be required reading in schools and for politicians just before they vote to decide whether to send other people's sons and daughters off to war. Then perhaps they might have a slightly better understanding of what is actually involved.

Tim O'Brien is a great writer, but this is
"The things That carried Him", not "The things they carried"

Onthebeach wrote:

Mustapha Mond wrote:

In a similar vein (or should I say vain, since it too will no doubt be 'shopped in some people's eyes?), here's an incredible and moving article that ran in Esquire: The Things That Carried Him.

Tim O'Brien should be required reading in schools and for politicians just before they vote to decide whether to send other people's sons and daughters off to war. Then perhaps they might have a slightly better understanding of what is actually involved.

Absolutely.

However, just to be clear, the article above is not Tim O'Brien's. It's a clever play on his book title. The article is about a soldier's death and the trip his remains make back to the states. It's nonfiction. And I don't think it's muckraking. I don't even really know how to describe it. One soldier's death touches a lot of lives in a lot of unexpected ways. It's incredibly moving.

Mustapha Mond wrote:

However, just to be clear, the article above is not Tim O'Brien's. It's a clever play on his book title.

BTW. O'Brien's essay was first published in Esquire...

I read Esquire, too.
I recommend essays by Colby Buzzell, Chuck Klosterman, and Barry Sonnenfeld

Tallgeese wrote:

jerwin wrote:

1. It's not photoshopped.
2. Riding in planes is not frivolous

look, I know. I have seen quite a few 'shops in my time.

It is shopped.
A) The size of the people in the windows are out of proportion to the context. They are obviously too large. Make a new layer from a selection containing the windows.
Select and delete the windows. Paste in humans on layers under that layer.
B) They are lit from what appears to be a pure white light. Which one will not find either inside a passenger compartment or in the cargo bay. Select/feather/levels/set white point..

The passengers are faked. I could tell at first glance. To me it's as simple as you would not see their faces that clearly through windows to begin with. That doesn't nullify the message of the photo, though. If it was in the Arts section that's fine with me. There's a long history of art conveying similar messages concerning wars and stuff.

OK, I did a little work in Photoshop comparing the sizes of the Marines' heads and the passengers. They're about the same height. My problem with the authenticity of the photograph (once I bothered to really think hard about it, instead of just calling it a fake at first glance) is that there is apparently only one passenger per row and they are apparently all sitting by the window and staring out of their windows. How does that happen? No one's asleep. No one's reading a book. No one's getting a tiny little bottle of Jack Daniels from the stewardess. That's just plain unrealistic. If anyone was sitting beside these people you'd surely see someone's hand, shoulder, head, for Christ's sake or something. It's a definite chop job.

Maybe there weren't that many passengers.

If it was a flight to vegas - sure, but Reno?

I've seen Reno 911 - who would want to go there?

jerwin wrote:

Onthebeach wrote:

Mustapha Mond wrote:

In a similar vein (or should I say vain, since it too will no doubt be 'shopped in some people's eyes?), here's an incredible and moving article that ran in Esquire: The Things That Carried Him.

Tim O'Brien should be required reading in schools and for politicians just before they vote to decide whether to send other people's sons and daughters off to war. Then perhaps they might have a slightly better understanding of what is actually involved.

Tim O'Brien is a great writer, but this is
"The things That carried Him", not "The things they carried"

I know but didn't think it was necessary to point out given that people would either understand the reference or do a little googling.

Metacell wrote:

Duke Stratosphere wrote:

OK, I did a little work in Photoshop comparing the sizes of the Marines' heads and the passengers. They're about the same height. My problem with the authenticity of the photograph (once I bothered to really think hard about it, instead of just calling it a fake at first glance) is that there is apparently only one passenger per row and they are apparently all sitting by the window and staring out of their windows. How does that happen? No one's asleep. No one's reading a book. No one's getting a tiny little bottle of Jack Daniels from the stewardess. That's just plain unrealistic. If anyone was sitting beside these people you'd surely see someone's hand, shoulder, head, for Christ's sake or something. It's a definite chop job.

I can clearly see 3 people in the 4th row from the left.  And nobody in the window a couple over.  Also, this is at the airport, not in flight.  People don't usually get all cozy and drunk till the plane takes off.  And perhaps they're all looking out the window at the soldiers unloading a coffin?

5th row from the right, 3 people. 3rd row from the right, someone standing in the aisle.
Why are they all looking out the window? Well they could have seen the Marines climb in to the hold and figured out what was going on. Presumably they can also see a photographer standing a few feet away in the window of a departure lounge. Or perhaps they were just watching the

family gather on the tarmac.

From the article itself:

When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."

Perhaps Major Steve Beck is also photoshopped.

Onthebeach wrote:

jerwin wrote:

Onthebeach wrote:

Tim O'Brien should be required reading in schools and for politicians just before they vote to decide whether to send other people's sons and daughters off to war. Then perhaps they might have a slightly better understanding of what is actually involved.

Tim O'Brien is a great writer, but this is
"The things That carried Him", not "The things they carried"

I know but didn't think it was necessary to point out given that people would either understand the reference or do a little googling.

Google for my response to that comment.