"Two Worlds Collide"

"Fictitious Protraits" by Keith Cottingham. http://www.kcott.com/


It's amazing what digital technology can do nowadays. Can you believe that these boys are not real? Cottingham used a mix of himself, drawings, wax sculptures and pictures of people of various races, ages and genders. So these boys are mutations of a number of actual and fictitious people. Voila! This is what he came out with after using digital image manipulation programs. Who could guess that these models really don't exist in the physical sense...

Obviously, photo tampering was been going on throughout history but I wasn't aware of it until reading this unit.

1942: In order to create a more heroic portrait of himself, Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from the original photograph. Amazing right?

I still find fascinating the old photographs in black and white from the 1800's. To me it's like a window to the past. We have the opportunity to see how they dressed, where they lived and what they did in their daily routines.

Below is a picture of the famous "Whaley House" constructed in 1856 in San Diego, CA.

Above is Thomas Whaley with his family. The moved to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He was a successful businessman and relocated from San Francisco to Old Town San Diego in 1851.

This is how the Whaley House likes today in Old Town, San Diego. From the outside, the Whaley House looks pleasant, even cheerful but inside, it shows a darker face because it's said to be haunted. The house was built over an old cemetery and near the gallows site. "Legend and ghosts haunt the house, levitating furniture, playing the organ and waling around" http://www.whaleyhouse.org/. I have visited the Whaley House when I lived in San Diego but unfortunately, I didn't get to see or hear any ghost.

This photo was taken at the Whaley House by a visitor. There is a ball of light in the middle of the staircase. It's believed to be the ghosts that live in that house. I'm not sure if it's visible enough in the picture.

I find all the ghost stories and pictures fascinating!! I just wanted to share a famous ghost story that it's well-known in San Diego.

Our technology has come a long way since the 1830's and photo editing, digital photo and airbrushing away photo mistakes is second nature. You can use the "clone stamp tool" in Adobe Photoshop elements to manipulate your own photo. At the same time, it has become harder to detect fake photos from a real one through digital photo manipulation. "Photoshopping" is a popular pastime but it's used into photojournalism and the media, then I think the issue of ethics should be addressed.