Take a good look at the photograph above. It shows a hooked fish in the polluted waters of the Guarapiranga dam in the southern part of So Paulo. It was taken by photographer Lalo de Almeida and published on the front page of Folha on April 21 to illustrate an article, “Water quality has worsened in So Paulo.”
The photo shows the strong color of the water and has an unusual angle. The man who is fishing at the back of the picture seems to be in water up to his waist. There are drops of water and a stain on the right side that seems to indicate a reflection. It captures the idea of pollution and manages to escape from the conventional.
Reader Delvino Nunes, however, was suspicious. And he wrote to the ombudsman somewhat indignant. “At the first, looking at the photo, I was impressed by its artistic merit and creativity. However, trying to understand the angle of the photo, I came to the following conclusion: he was either under the water or he faked the picture. Until I am convinced of the contrary, I’ll keep the second conclusion, and I’ll say why. To the right of the fish there is a reflection, probably that of the photographer. What makes me conclude that the fish was not in the water, but instead in an aquarium, is the reflection. There are even air bubbles on the aquarium glass (or a nearly-submersed lens!!).”
We all know about cases of manipulated photos in newspapers and magazines. It is easy, with the resources available in the departments of art and photography, to alter a photo.
A recent famous example occurred in the edition about the terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11. One of the strongest images, reproduced by nearly every newspaper in the world, showed victims being helped on the train line. Nearby was a human body part. It is a photo with a huge impact.
Most newspapers, including Folha, published it with all the details. A few decided to “clean” the body part from the scene to not shock their readers. It would be preferable to publish another photo out of the thousands that were available. By disturbing the image without informing readers, these newspapers altered reality and committed fraud.
The reader’s question, therefore, is pertinent. Lack of confidence threatens credibility. It is not important if the faked photo is from an international attack or shows a local problem. The damage is the same.
I tried to contact the editors in the photo department and received the following explanation: “To manage to get the image of the fish inside the dirty water of the dam, the photographer put his camera inside an aquarium. To avoid getting the camera wet, it is inside the receptacle, and the fish is in the dam water, contrary to what the reader imagines. The reflection observed is that of the aquarium where the camera is.”
The reader was not convinced. He wrote back: “How do you explain the reflection in the photo in the aquarium if it is, I suppose, inside the water? Furthermore, an aquarium with enough size to hold a camera is relatively big and has a big base. To put half of it inside the water, with the water pressure from bottom to top, it would need the help of at least one more person, and even then, they would have difficulty keeping the aquarium stable. My goal is not to make controversy, but everybody to whom I showed the photo and Folha’s response agreed with my doubts and were unanimous in asserting that the photo looks faked. And I still believe that the fish was in the aquarium.”
Teaser: In the attack in Madrid, various newspapers altered the strongest photo. That was fraud.
I then asked photographer Lalo de Almeida for a more detailed report, so he could convince me and respond to the reader.
He explained that, confronting a topic that has already been exploited, he thought about something different: a photo that could show the water pollution inside the dam from the outside. Furthermore, he would have to submerge his camera. Because the newspaper does not have appropriate equipment for this type of photo, he decided to improvise. On the road to the dam, he stopped at a store and bought an aquarium 14 inches wide by 8 inches deep by 10 inches high. He had to find one with enough space to hold his Canon EOS-1D with a 14-mm lens.
His report: “At the dam, there is an old tree trunk that is about 5 feet above the water. I walked on the trunk carrying the aquarium with the photo equipment until I got to a depth of 12 inches. I positioned the camera at the bottom of the aquarium, putting the lens in the glass wall to try to minimize the reflection. I held the camera with both hands and pressed the button until the aquarium was about 5 inches deep. What was most important was to leave the waterline exactly in the middle of the lens. This way I managed to capture the underwater scene (the fish in the dirty water) and also have an external reference (the fisherman). This angle would only work with a wide-angle lens, like the one I was using. When one of the fishermen caught a fish, it passed near the aquarium. At this moment, I took the photo. With the camera inside the aquarium, the photos were taken without much precision. Besides this, the water level on the wall varied a great deal, so I had to push the camera to make the aquarium go deeper while I took the photos. It was this variation in water level that left some bubbles on the glass wall that appeared on the left side of the photo.”
Therefore, you can’t speak of fraud. With these more detailed explanations, Delvino Nunes was satisfied. And he made a correct observation: “Recognizing that he used an aquarium, it was necessary to share this information with the reader at least in the caption of the photo.” I agree. When a newspaper uses unconventional resources to obtain an uncommon photographic effect, as was the case with the fish, it should share the experience with readers, who are skeptical and curious.
Lack of creativity
Nothing is created; everything is a copy, sometimes to the point of exaggeration, such as in this case. The photo on Time on May 3 illustrated a story about the fad that has taken hold in the United States for diets based on low carbohydrates. The weekly magazine Isto Dinheiro used this as its inspiration, which is normal, and did an adaptation for Brazil: “War on carbohydrates” is the cover on the magazine that circulated May 19. The main photo inside is a copy of Time’s idea. Editors at the Brazilian magazine did not want to comment.
Translation by John Wright
