The bastardisation of photography and the quest for truth

My wife pointed out something on facebook this morning to me that immediately offended me, although it seemed like a tame (pun?) topic.

It seems that there are a bunch of commercial photographers who are prostituting their art for financial gain. Instead of capturing the pure beauty of an animal in the wild, they are attending "photography game parks" where "wild settings" are staged for optimal opportunities at the perfect shot. Have a look at the expose article for yourself.

For those of us who attempt to photograph animals in the wild, and are thrilled when we succeed, this is a bastardisation of the art of photography. God forbid I would ever stumble to such a low.

What it does remind me of though is the phenomenon of the fake news cycle that we find ourselves in now. How much of what we see and read can we really trust? Where can we even find the truth? Or as Pontius Pilate famously once quipped "what is truth (anyway)?"

In an age when truth can be so hard to find and so often doubted, I am reminded that truth is not even found in a newspaper or television article. Truth isn't even really found in any text at all, although I know that sacred text does point to the truth. This is ultimately because the truth is a person.

"I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me." -Jesus.