In our own image

In Our Own Image by Fred Ritchin presciently outlined, twenty years ago, before the era of digital cameras, cell phones, Photoshop, and the World Wide Web, many of the ways in which the digital age would transform society. This groundbreaking book was the first to address "the coming revolution in photography" and ask pointed and sometimes chilling questions that are increasingly relevant today, including whether democracy can survive the erosion of media accelerated by facile use of digital means.By the time a second edition was published in 1999, many of Ritchin's predictions had come true: com­puter embellishment of imagery had become a staple in the media and, given the widespread use of graphic software, had significantly diminished photography's special role as a credible witness: Newsday had pub­lished the first "future" news photograph of two feuding ice skaters as they would meet the next day, and on its cover, Time magazine darkened and blurred an image of the celebrity O. J. Simpson in order to lift "a common police mug shot to the level of art, with no sacrifice to truth." Aperture is pleased to reissue this seminal text, which has continued to shape the debate about digital imaging and the social role of photography to challenge our easy assumptions about the world around us. First published twenty years ago, the same year that Photoshop was released, this twentieth-anniversary edition features a preface by the author that contextualizes the book for a contemporary audience.