The Real Thing? - Staging, Manipulation and Photographic Truth

The Royal Photographic Society, in collaboration with the National Media Museum and the University of Westminster, is organising a series of events in different UK venues during the Spring and Summer of 2009. Entitled “The Real Thing? - Staging, Manipulation and Photographic Truth” the series will have a unifying theme of staged photography and manipulation.

LECTURE SERIES INFORMATION

Moving through the past 170 years of photography, “The Real Thing?” will consider different photographic technologies and applications, from combination printing to digital imaging, art photography to advertising, photo-journalism to fashion and editorial photography. Underpinning each event will be issues relating to the manner in which all photographs are recorded, presented and manipulated, the role manipulation has in constructing photographic meaning and narrative, and the extent to which new technologies test our belief in the veracity of photographic realism. The intention of the photographer and the context in which images are consumed will also be explored.

By combining historical perspective with analysis of contemporary practice, “The Real Thing?” hopes to tease out similarities between widely varied and disparate imaging techniques, to explore the enduring relevance of staged photography and the consequences of its myths, metaphors, facts and fictions.