Jill Greenberg’s John McCain Photos

September 16, 2008

I was wondering why my more-than-two-year-old post on Jill Greenberg’s children and monkey photos was suddenly getting comments again and then I heard about the controversy surrounding her photos of John McCain, one of which was featured on the cover of The Atlantic. Before everyone gets their knickers in a knot, though, I have some observations and questions.

There are (at least) two different issues at play here: the Atlantic cover and the manipulated images on Greeberg’s web site. First about the ‘doctored’ image in the cover:

1) The Atlantic cover photo wasn’t doctored. The Atlantic’s editorial apology isn’t about the cover at all, but about the manipulated photos on her web site. And The Atlantic’s editor has noted that they stand by the cover:

The Atlantic opted not to use the distorted McCain shot on its cover, selecting instead a more straightforward portrait. ‘We stand by the picture we are running on our cover," said Atlantic editor James Bennet. ‘We feel it’s a respectful portrait. We hope we’ll be judged by that picture.’

But Bennet was appalled by Greenberg saying she tried to portray McCain in an unflattering way.

1b) In fact, the problem (if there is one) can only come from the fact that it wasn’t doctored after being taken. The lighting was manipulated to get the, for lack of a better term, the Greenberg-ian effect and then left that way. I saw the photo on the newsstand and immediately knew it was Greenberg, but it didn’t stand out as being flattering or unflattering. To me it looks like most of her pictures of people, which is to say in some way unreal. More importantly, it passed through the hands of all the editors at Atlantic who saw no problem with it. Are they all partisan? Or:

1c) Is the real problem here psychological and ideological? It doesn’t appear that a significant number of people had any problem with the photo until Greenberg’s other satirical photos came out. What was just an artsy-looking photo suddenly became cast as the product of partisan tampering. And:

1d) Admitting that Greenberg is a partisan, shouldn’t the photograph be assessed on its own? What does her partisanship ultimately have to do with it and the sudden change in perception of the McCain photo?

2) When was the last time anyone venting about this complained about the doctoring of a magazine cover? They are, practically speaking, all manipulated and retouched. Or is it only a problem when someone is made to look bad. Or is it only a problem when the manipulation doesn’t lean with our bias? Who, of those upset by this photo, are speaking out against the obvious air-brushing and retouching on the cover photos of Sarah Palin and McCain and Palin together? Or anyone else for that matter? For the record, I thought the Left’s outrage at the Obama New Yorker cover was also misguided.

3) Where is all the outrage with the unquestionably more damaging and constant media manipulation when it comes to representation of women in the media? Look at any magazine rack and you will see 10 times more crass, sexual misrepresentation of sex and body image than anything remotely political.

As far as the images on Greenberg’s site go, they are a decidedly mixed bag as art or propaganda. A few are more or less standard representatives of political satire; a few are simply tasteless. Greenberg is a fine photographer, but the McCain manipulations are juvenile and not reflective of her skill and talent, including those expressing political positions I agree with. However, as far as I’m concerned, Greenberg can do whatever she wants to on her site with the photos she takes and has rights to, agreeable or not. We are fortunate to live in a country where the State doesn’t deem what is appropriate art and what is not, as was the case in the U.S.S.R and still the sad case in places like Cuba and Taliban-governed areas through the Middle East.  As fervently as some of Greenberg’s detractors might wish they could erase her photos from the world, I imagine they would hope and/or pray with equal fervor that someone like me not be allowed to make similar decisions for them.

Tags: ethics, john mccain, Photography, politics, the atlantic