By: Daryl Lang Last month, The New York Times Magazine withdrew a photo story by photographer Edgar Martins after it became apparent that Martins had digitally manipulated the images. Martins has now responded to the controversy with a 2,900-word essay (plus footnotes) published on his Web site. In it, he writes that he respects the Times and regrets the confusion the essay caused the newspaper's readers.
Martins is an accomplished fine art photographer based in the U.K., and the Times Magazine hired him to shoot photos of abandoned construction sites. After the photo essay was published, bloggers noticed obvious evidence of cloned elements in the pictures. The Times pulled the essay offline and published an editors note, saying: "Had the editors known that the photographs had been digitally manipulated, they would not have published the picture essay, which has been removed from NYTimes.com."
Martins' response is a sprawling mix of philosophy, personal observations and art criticism. He writes that rather than discussing his specific arrangements with The Times, it's more important "to renegotiate the terms of the wider contract between author/newspaper/reader." He does not explain his relationship with The Times, whom he spoke to there, or what he told them.
He writes, "I do not believe I have misrepresented The New York Times or the work I produced, moreover, my oeuvre." Later he adds, "I did not present the work as something it wasn't nor did I obscure or conceal the relevant constructions and originals."
Check it out,
here.
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Nielsen Business Media
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