Monday, September 15, 2008

Jill Greenberg and John McCain

Who is Jill Greenberg?

Jill Greenberg is a Beverly Hills photographer.

She was hired by the Atlantic Monthly to photograph John McCain for the cover of the October issue, highlighting an article by Jeffrey Goldberg.

She is also a rabid partisan and a disgrace to her profession.

Little Green Footballs links to the story on how Greenberg really feels about McCain.

When The Atlantic called Jill Greenberg, a committed Democrat, to shoot a portrait of John McCain for its October cover, she rubbed her hands with glee.

She delivered the image the magazine asked for—a shot that makes the Republican presidential nominee look heroic. Greenberg is well known for her highly retouched images of bears and crying babies. But she didn’t bother to do much retouching on her McCain images. “I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad,” she says.

After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. “That’s what he thought he was being lit by,” Greenberg says. “But that wasn’t firing.”

What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. “He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,” she adds.

How professional!

Way to go, Greenberg!


American Digest has some leaked "out-takes" from Greenberg's photo session with McCain. See the images that appeared on Greenberg's website. Disgusting. What was she thinking?

American Digest also has a complete roundup of comments from The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, and this statement out of The Atlantic's PR agency, from Atlantic editor James Bennet:

We stand by the respectful image of John McCain that we used on our cover, and we expect to be judged by it. We were not aware of the manipulated and dishonest images Jill Greenberg had taken until this past Friday.

When we contract with photographers for portraits, we don't vet them for their politics--instead, we assess their professional track records. Based on the portraits she had done of politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and her work for publications like Time, Wired, and Portfolio, we expected Jill Greenberg, like the other photographers we work with, to behave professionally.

Jill Greenberg has obviously not done that. She has, in fact, disgraced herself, and we are appalled by the manipulated images she has created for her Web site of John McCain.”

I think Bennet is just engaging in CYA.

I don't think he's really "appalled" by Greenberg's manipulated images. I think he's troubled that the world knows.

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UPDATE: "Atlantic Monthly Editor to Offer Apology to McCain for Photog’s Doctored Pics"
The editor of The Atlantic Monthly said Monday he is sending a letter of apology to John McCain after a woman the magazine hired to photograph the Republican presidential nominee posted manipulated pictures from the photo shoot on her Web site.

Photographer Jill Greenberg, who is vehemently anti-Republican and expressed glee that the photos would stir up conservative ire, took pictures of McCain for the cover of The Atlantic’s October issue.

During the shoot, she took several other backlit pictures, which she then doctored and posted to her site. In one photo, she added blood oozing from McCain’s shark-toothed mouth and labeled it with the caption “I am a bloodthirsty warmongerer.” In another, a caption over McCain’s head says, “I will have my girl kill Roe v. Wade,” an obvious reference to his running mate Sarah Palin’s anti-abortion positions.

Editor James Bennet said Greenberg behaved improperly and will not be paid for the session. He said the magazine is also considering a lawsuit.

Watch an interview with Bennet.

So Greenberg won't get paid for the photo session. That's tough.

I wonder if the Obama campaign will put her on their payroll.

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UPDATE, September 16, 2008: Jill Greenberg Dropped by Photo Agency

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I've been enjoying your website. I will be voting for Mr. Obama, but I think Americans are capable of disagreeing about things without getting nasty and irrational. (I also happen to have greatly admired Bill Buckley, and I think Pat Buchanan gets a raw deal a lot of the time...so somebody else is going to have to tell me what box I fit into, because the labels just confuse me.)

Your comments on media-slanted photography are particularly thought provoking, so it surprises me a little that some of the photos on your "Wall of Shame" are the least flattering I've seen of the people being referenced there.

Probably a minor point, though. Keep up the good work.

Mary said...

Yes, they are not flattering photos, but fitting since it is the Wall of Shame.

To compare posting those photos with what Jill Greenberg did to John McCain is apples and oranges.

I didn't alter those photos in any way. Moreover, I didn't concoct offensive and obscene captions. The quotes are the individuals' exact words. And I don't take snippets of quotes that alter their meaning in any way.

There's no comparison.

Connecticut Man1 said...

Yes, there is a comparison. Propaganda is propaganda. Whether it is a manipulated photo or a purposeful choice to show a person in their worst light. I Don't think you should rail against something you have chosen as an outlet for your own personal views.

Also, I fail to see anything "heroic" in that picture of McCain. I just see one of the well connected, lobbyist driven "Old Boys Network" yes man that needs to be cleared out of D.C..

Perspective is everything. :)

Mary said...

I disagree.

I've already explained why the comparison doesn't fly; and posts on my blog explain why I don't share your opinion of McCain.