Something becomes real—to those who are elsewhere, following it as "news"—by being photographed.
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Those who stress the evidentiary punch of image-making by cameras have to finesse the question of the subjectivity of the image- maker. For the photography of atrocity, people want the weight of witnessing without the taint of artistry, which is equated with insincerity or mere contrivance.
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But one day captions will be needed, of course.
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