Commentary on Paul Hansen’s winning Photo of the Year from the World Press Photo Contest:
“I think Paul Hansen’s winning image is fantastic. I personally like the ‘original’ better than the award winning image. But the more salient question is whether or not the original would have won…
“But why does it matter? He didn’t move elements around in the photo, nor burn elements out of existence.
“It matters because we are essentially saying as a society that reality isn’t real enough to garner our attention. The photo wasn’t intended as a factual statement.”