The worst photoshopped press pictures

Gone are the times where the press was the only source of information. Social media is here! So when state run press agencies think of getting away with mis-information or propaganda, social media kicks in.

As when this string of Photoshop woo's got exposed through social media:

Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, is made to believe he swore in the newly appointed governor of the troubled Hama region, last week. However, the photoshop artist who doctored this picture should rethink his career development plan.

This one was done better: The Egyptian state-run Al-Ahram newpaper photoshopped image of President Hosni Mubarak and other leaders at the 2010 Middle East peace talks. Mubarak clearly leads the pack:


All was fine, until the original photo came out, with Mubarak and his short legs trailing behind:


(Un-)Luckily, Mubarak has other worries right now.


The Chinese head the "booboo"-pack with this And one would think they could do better, at a time where they hack half of the world's computers, and are a serious competitor in space... But apparently not.
In this picture, Huili local officials "inspect" a highway project in China's Sichuan province:


Talking about floating in space, hey?


And then there is of course this classic: A photoshop boo of Baroness Ashton, given a less revealing outfit by an Iranian newspaper last year:


Would've been better for everyone if they'd covered her face entirely, me thinks...


Sources: Guardian, The Horizon and BoingBoing

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Vogue turns oil spill into fashion

Vogue Italy's August edition frontcovers models in the midst of an oil spill. A shoot by Stephen Meisel, a photographer now infamous for his fashion shoot amongst soldiers in Iraq back in 2007.

In case you are interested:

Kristen McMenamy (...) keeps her skin golden thanks to Self Tan Face Bronzing Gel Tint (to wear alone or with foundation): it takes care of the skin, while giving it a hint of color. Carbon, anthracite, and all of the earthy shades "dress" her eyes: Quick Eyes Cream Shadow, cocoa shimmer, a long-lasting cream eye shadow, worn with brown High Impact Mascara, and her lips feature a nude look. All by Clinique. Tulle dress with beaded embroidery, Ralph Lauren Collection. Rubber necklace, My Sister's Art. Hair by Orlando Pita for Orlo Salon. Make-up Pat McGrath. Fashion editor Karl Templer. Set design by Mary Howard.

And I guess "Oil courtesy BP?"

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Zoriah, the humanitarian photographer.

There is a lot of interesting and fascinating stuff I discover every day on the Internet. And loads is done by people with a drive other than profit. Passion. Compassion. Lust for adventure. Kick on danger. Addiction to the horizon. Whatever it might be. Passion.

Here is one. Zoriah calls himself "a humanitarian photographer", roaming around the world, reporting pictures and stories on his blog. Excellent material.

You can find his work in:
- Diaries of a Shooter
- War Photographer
- His portfolio
- His blog

On his blog he solicited donations to continue his freelance work. I donated something. Is not my habit. Normally I never donate on a blog. But I was struck by some of the passion in his work.

Picture courtesy Zoriah.

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Rumble: Trinity by Carl De Keyzer

In an earlier post, I raved about Belgian photographer Carl De Keyzer. He just finished a new project, called Trinity. You can browse through the astonishing Trinity pictures on his website.

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Rumble: The Intelligence of a Human Being - Part #3

Probably the subtitle of this blog should be:
'How a 30,000 ton icebreaker turned into a flowerpot'.
Or:
'How our lifes are ruled by machines...'

I keep all my blog pictures on Flickr. I have hundreds of pictures stored there, mostly for my Dutch eBook. Last week something went wrong. I noticed it first when the front page picture of the eBook had turned the Akademik Federov - a huge Antarctic research/cargo vessel into a vase with flowers. Pretty strong trick. I mean it is a 30,000 ton ship!

I logged onto Flickr, and could not believe my eyes. Probably one third of my pictures had been replaced by completely different ones. There were flowers, beach parties, animals,... instead of my expedition pictures from the Antarctic and the Pacific. On the Flickr forum, a stream of complaints started. Everyone had the same problem: 'their pictures were switched with those from others':

• A lady wrote: "I like the new Flickr pictures. On all my self portraits, I seem to have lost 40 pounds, and 30 years. I now have legs reaching up to my armpits!!"
• To which a retired army colonel replied: "Yeah, me too, and I look real cool in a bikini-string set !"
• One guy from Africa complained: "Help, all of my friends have turned into Japanese!"
• A not so funny one was from 'Mister Desperate': "I use my Flickr pictures for my commercial locksmith website, promoting my business. Half of the pictures of door handles and locks we sell, have been replaced by porn pictures! I never had so many hits on my website before, though! I had two new requests to open a business account."
• "The thumbnail of my friends on their wedding day has been replaced with one of a dead pigeon", complained another.
• "There is some naked girl on the roof instead of my bowling record picture", said 'Mr X'
• "Nothing like a picture of a drunken party of strangers in the middle of your holiday thumbnails", claimed one.
• "I am finding pornography over the photos I have shared with numerous members of my Congregation.", sighed a minister.

In the end, FLICKR reset some system, flushed the network cache memory and 'abracadabra' after a couple of hours, I got 'my ice breaker' back. How happy I was...

And that is the weirdest thing, I am thinking now: I should have been angry because of the technical hiccup in a service I pay for. But no, I was in heaven when I got all my pictures back... The power of the machine. It taketh yours and it giveth yours back, when it feels like it! And we, we are grateful! Just as I am always grateful to find all my files back after my laptop's Windows crashes. Ten times a day. "I, Robot!"

PS: I hereby certify this blog is generated by a human being. I... generate.. human being, Krrt..&^^%% being. being. boing... ^%%)(*^££

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Picture with courtesy of AARI.

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Rumble: Others Do It So Much Better Than Me # 2 : Carl De Keyzer

Carl De Keyzer, a Belgian professional photographer, once sent me this picture (click on it to enlarge). It is still one of the best I have ever seen of Afghanistan. One picture so full of different stories. The scars of war, the kids, the mountains, the isolation, the poverty, a past with barely a future.. all in one shot.

Carl did several missions shooting in war-torn and isolated places. He has a gift, I would pay dearly to have myself :-) His website is here. Just magnificent.

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