An article by Lewis Bush called ‘ Eight ‘rules’ of photography that are worth breaking ‘ explains how breaking the rules of photography can be extremely beneficial. He writes that breaking the rules can be a way of seeing the world in a new light, “break all the rules and pioneer a new way of seeing the world.”  He also says that the real stories of our time aren’t always plain to see. He is trying to explain that sometimes the most interesting concept is not clearly visible. We as the photographer have to break the rules and push the boundaries to isolate the what we really want to see.  In the article, Bush talks about a photographer called William Eugene Smith. Smith is an American Photojournalist who is extremely dedicated to his projects. In 1955 Smith traveled to Pittsburgh on what was meant to be a three week assignment, however turned into a year long ‘photographic binge.’ He came away with over 17,000 images.

He later moved to Japan to document the consequences of devastating industrial pollution. Within this process, he faced extreme violence from the people he was exposing. He was also becoming to involved with the people he was photographing.  According to one writer, Smith was the man who tried to document everything. During his photographic career, Smith broke nearly every rule there was in photography. Some of these included, posing his subjects, manipulating his prints and becoming dangerously involved in his stories. When people quentioned him to why he broke the rules he said, “I didn’t write them- why should I follow them?”  Smith proved that successful photographers can break the rules. Bush writes that many rules restrict the medium, “serve vested interests and prevent photographers from revealing the critical issues that are shaping our modern world.”  Here are some images by Smith. 

These are the eight rules that Bush talks about. The rule of Objectivity, the rule of Audience, The rule of Manipulation, The rule of Reality, The rule of Technicality, The rule of ownership, The rule of the camera and the Rule of rule breaking. The rule that I will be focusing on is the rule of manipulation.

This rule is about photographers being forbidden to use any form of digital editing to manipulate the meaning of their images. Some photographers like Steve McCurry are more interested in the professional accolades than the integrity of the stories they use. However, Bush believes that every stage of the photographic process is a manipulation. A documentary filmmaker called Errol Morries explains you don’t need to manipulate an image to mislead an audience, you just need to simply change the caption. He also says that when used in the right context, manipulation can reveal the truth. A Dutch photographer called Alice Wielinga traveled to North Korea, she found it hard to capture the truth. She says, “I felt that, with mere documenting, I wasn’t able to tell the story as I was experiencing it,” Since she was not happy with her images, she decided to digitally merge her images of official North Korea propaganda with her own images of workers and decaying factories. “I see propaganda and reality as two sides of the same coin,” she says. “Propaganda is an essential part of everyday life in North Korea, and because of that a reality in itself.” Here are some of her final edits.