strange thoughts...

today at work, i ps'd two men together, a father and a son. this isn't
anything that special, i add or subtract people from photographs
several times a week if not every day. I generally view them in terms
of difficulty or absurdity, but today i sat there thinking about why
exactly it is that people do this.

with this particular photo, it was a twenty-something son standing
alone on a fishing boat on a trip he'd taken with a friend, holding up
an enormous catch. He has sunlight directly on his face, and a shadow
from the brim of his hat. it is a scan from a 4x6 print. last year he
died.

the father i'm to insert into this photograph is in shadow next to a
house, and he's hugging his daughter. His right shoulder isn't
visible, and her arm snakes around his waist and crosses over his left
arm. the photograph to scan is a somewhat mangled 4x6 print with the
date 6-07-02 stamped on the bottom.

it wasn't a particularly easy job -- i had to rebuild the man's arm
and mess with the photograph considerably to try to mimic the lighting
conditions in the photo of the son. still, when i was finished, it was
nearly impossible to tell that this moment had never happened. and i
found myself wondering -- now that the family had photographic "proof"
of this moment, could they, WOULD THEY eventually create the memory
themselves? would, after a period of time, the father remember having
his arm around his kid while he held up his fish? would he tell
himself what it was like to take that trip with his son three summers
ago -- what the weather was like, how many fish were caught?

with how often i do this for people, i can't help but wonder their
motivation. is it simply a way of displaying family together, despite
the fact that some have passed away, or some couldn't make the trip
home for the wedding? or are they actually trying to convince
themselves of a moment that was manipulated and created entirely by my
hand?