About This Page
This page is part of the Museum of Hoaxes' Hoax Photo Archive, a catalog of photo fakery throughout history. Images are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period.
Hoax Museum Archives
Street Urchins Tossing Chestnuts
Status: Staged
Technique of Fakery: Staged Scene, Movable Prop.
Date and Time Period: 1857; (Before 1900)
Themes: Art, Children
Technique of Fakery: Staged Scene, Movable Prop.
Date and Time Period: 1857; (Before 1900)
Themes: Art, Children
A street urchin tosses a chestnut in the air as his bored companion looks on. It may look like a real-life scene caught by the camera, but in fact it is staged. Cameras were too slow in the 1850s to record something as quick-moving as a tossed chestnut. Therefore Oscar Rejlander (who is sometimes called the Father of Art Photography) suspended a chestnut in mid-air with a piece of fine thread in order to create the scene. The thread is barely visible if you examine a larger version of the picture.
References:
Lester, P. (1991). Photojournalism: An Ethical Approach. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 92.
Lester, P. (1991). Photojournalism: An Ethical Approach. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 92.
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