Cropping

The very act of cropping alters and changes the suggested meaning and perceived context of the subject of a photograph.
Journalism photography and documentary photography specializes in presenting information in a non-mediated and un-biased fashion but the all photographs we see on TV and in newspapers are completely mediated. In fact, the very act of taking a photograph is an act of mediation as the photographer we put around his own frame and select how much background he wishes to show
Even further, the photographer may crop the image to change the meaning completely. There are sometimes tell-tale warnings that a photograph has been deliberately cropped in a particular way to convey a certain meaning as we may sometimes see it being de-pixelated and the image is not a true documentary photograph.
Here are some images that I myself have deliberately cropped in ordere to demonstrate how drastically cropping may alter the meaning of an image.


Here we see a young Jewish boy looking up at the Wailing Wall, portrayed as young, innocent and devout

Here we see the full image which undoubtedly means that our first impression must be modified as the boy is dressed as a soldier - undoubtedly from the Israeli Army. He is represented as being dominant and aggressive due to all the weapons of war which he is carryinging about his person.


Here we see a holiday snapshot with young girls sunbathing and appearing to be very peacefulness

Here we see the entire image revealing that in the background the enemy is invading their shores and disrupting their peaceful way of life. The U.S, soldiers are represented as being clumsy and aggressive.

Here we see a devout Moslem at prayer

Here we see the full image of a scene of conflict and we may interpret inferences it as a conflagration caused by the Moslem terrorist who is praying to his God to thank him for the destruction of the evil Western powers

In this photograph we can see a happy young boy standing in the summer sunshine. He is portrayed a carefree and innocent

In this photograph, showing the boy's surroundings, we can understand the true situation being portrayed - a boy left homeless after the Blitz wiuth his family in the background

In this shot we can see what we may perceive as a group of tourists visiting the Brandenburg

In this photo of the Berlin Wall, this is a clear and precise demonstration of how we see photographs for what they are. What is denoted here is the struggle between East and West at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We can see how the photographer has tried to create a very dramatic shot in which completely contrasting moods are portrayed in the same photograph. Whereas down below there is panic and disorder


The first image shows a US soldier being attacked by an Iraqi

A few seconds later, another photo showing the scene in its entirety makes it clear that the Iraqi is in fact embracing the US soldier in order to thank him for his liberation. This is an example of how time-cropping can alter the meaning of an image. This is furthermore a clear example of Cartier Bresson's "the decisive moment" showing how a photograph relies on a fraction of a second to achieve clarity of meaning. These two photographs are completely different as they indicate totally contrasting meanings and objectives.