Cottingly fairies - Historical (daantje)

The 'Cottingly faries' refer to an time and age, when photography is still in its infancy, namely at the beginning of the 1900's. The photographs of supposedly fairies received a lot of publicity throughout England and had many people travel the land in search of these magical beings. However, in the 60's it turned out the photographs were fake and the photographer (then a girl of 16) admitted to use until then unkown techniques of photomanipulation in the dark room and the use of simple card-board cut outs. The reason I have chosen this piece to be my historical photograph, is because it refers to the beginnings of photomanipulation and the effect photographs can have on our perception of reality. For instance, during the cold war, photographs of the horrors of war were often published, which created a strong opposition of the war, especially in England. Previously, such imagery was not available and people were not confronted with such raw images of war. In conclusion, photographs can have a very strong influence on our perception of reality, be it more accurate or more deceptive.