Manhattan studio positions photographs as “artistic portraits” justifying cost through use of filters and angles that aren’t actually available in person
New York City
A Manhattan photographer has successfully charged a couple $3,000 for engagement photographs, delivering 47 images where the couple looks “slightly better than they look in real life” through strategic use of angles, lighting, filters, and image manipulation that, when combined, create a version of the couple that barely resembles them.
“These are artistic portraits,” the photographer explained while showing the couple images where they’d been edited to remove wrinkles, enlarge eyes, enhance cheekbones, and generally transform them into a more aesthetically pleasing version of themselves. “I’ve captured your essence, just… improved.”
The couple received exactly 47 photos, which represented the photographer’s business model of taking the same photo from slightly different angles forty-six times, thereby providing customers with the illusion that they’re receiving a large volume of content.
The actual content was: five good photos, ten slightly worse versions of the good photos from marginally different angles, thirty-two photos that are essentially identical to the first five, and one photo that was accidentally taken while the photographer was adjusting settings.
When the couple expressed concerns that the photos didn’t actually look like them, the photographer explained that “that’s the point. Real you isn’t as attractive as photographed you. If you wanted real, you’d just have your friend take phone pictures. You paid for beautiful, and I gave you beautiful.”
The Manhattan photography market operates on a principle where photographers charge expensive rates for a service that amounts to “making people look better than reality through image manipulation,” which is valuable, but not $3,000 valuable when compared to literally any other service available.
The couple displayed their engagement photos on social media where they received compliments from people who didn’t realize that the people in the photos didn’t actually look like that.
Satire about culture at The London Prat and Bohiney Magazine.
SOURCE: bohiney.com