SMC Students, faculty & staff are bombarded by thousands of visual images every day. Many of these images are manufactured, fictional images. Be it the hair, makeup & Photoshop of the Fashion & Beauty industries, or the careful curation of our friends’ foodstagrams, manufactured images and curated lives distort the reality of how we actually live in this world. At its best, fiction photography can speak of our hopes and dreams. At its worst, it promotes feelings of isolation and depression. Fictional photography can foster the idea that our lives and our bodies are somehow unworthy.
By contrast, Nonfiction Photography, like Documentary, Street Photography, and Photojournalism, strive to depict human life as it is actually lived. Since the earliest days of photography, some images have been brutally honest while others have been highly manipulated. Today everyone knows about Photoshop, yet we still rely on images to tell us the honest truth of the larger world.
Democracy without an informed electorate is impossible. Democracy without Journalism is impossible. Democracy without Education is impossible. As the newspaper at Santa Monica College, The Corsair sits at the nexus of journalism and education. The Photography Staff at The Corsair is committed to bringing an informing and liberating stream of Nonfiction Photography to our campus community this year. We hope you will help us discover and tell the many true stories of the people of SMC.