The Crested Caracara (a.k.a. Northern Caracara or Mexican Eagle) was the stuff of legend throughout pre-European contact in South and Central America. I haven't been able to find an authoritative website that discusses this, but there are numerous discussions on various websites. For example, the flags-flags-flags.org website has the following:
Editorial comment:
In the interest of full disclosure, I will point out that I digitally removed a plastic cup that was among the debris in the creek bed from several of these photos. With the exception of the post on digital variations, this is the first time I have digitally altered any photos that have appeared in this blog. As a matter of editorial policy I will always indicate if a photo has been altered beyond correcting brightness levels and color correction.
The very prestigious National Geographic Magazine has been caught on several occasions publishing altered photographs that are supposedly straight documentary images without any indication to the audience of the alteration. Perhaps their most notorious example of this was the repositioning of the Great Pyramids of Egypt to make a horizontal photo fit the vertical format of the cover. Other major publications have also published significantly altered photos without indicating the alteration.
The Geographic's justification for the pyramid rearrangement was that they were "digitally repositioning the photographer." In other words, the rearranged photo is the way the pyramids would look if the photographer had taken the photo from a different angle.
Perhaps my justification for digitally removing trash is no better, but I'm digitally cleaning up the visually distracting and environmentally degrading trash that litters the trails and creeks. For the above series of photos, I want the emphasis to remain on the crested caracara, not the trash. In the photos, I can remove the visual distraction, but in reality, the environmental degradation remains.
In most cases, as I also mentioned in the post, "Nature and the Human Presence, A Few Reflections," I have been able to minimize distracting elements from photos either by selective framing or cropping. I will discuss creek bed debris and greenway trail trash in more detail in an upcoming editorial post.
"According to Aztec legend the people were wandering in Mexico in search of a sign that their god, Huitzilopochtli, had given them. He commanded them to find a Crested Caracara perched on top of a cactus, devouring a snake. After two hundred years of wandering, they found the promised sign on a small island in the Lake Texcoco. Their search and wandering ended and they founded their new capital, Tenochtitl."The Crested Caracara is actually in the falcon family, but unlike other falcons, spends most of its time on the ground. Its legs are very well adapted for walking and running.
Editorial comment:
In the interest of full disclosure, I will point out that I digitally removed a plastic cup that was among the debris in the creek bed from several of these photos. With the exception of the post on digital variations, this is the first time I have digitally altered any photos that have appeared in this blog. As a matter of editorial policy I will always indicate if a photo has been altered beyond correcting brightness levels and color correction.
The very prestigious National Geographic Magazine has been caught on several occasions publishing altered photographs that are supposedly straight documentary images without any indication to the audience of the alteration. Perhaps their most notorious example of this was the repositioning of the Great Pyramids of Egypt to make a horizontal photo fit the vertical format of the cover. Other major publications have also published significantly altered photos without indicating the alteration.
The Geographic's justification for the pyramid rearrangement was that they were "digitally repositioning the photographer." In other words, the rearranged photo is the way the pyramids would look if the photographer had taken the photo from a different angle.
Perhaps my justification for digitally removing trash is no better, but I'm digitally cleaning up the visually distracting and environmentally degrading trash that litters the trails and creeks. For the above series of photos, I want the emphasis to remain on the crested caracara, not the trash. In the photos, I can remove the visual distraction, but in reality, the environmental degradation remains.
In most cases, as I also mentioned in the post, "Nature and the Human Presence, A Few Reflections," I have been able to minimize distracting elements from photos either by selective framing or cropping. I will discuss creek bed debris and greenway trail trash in more detail in an upcoming editorial post.
No comments:
Post a Comment