Photographer Run Amok Won't Be Paid By Atlantic

A photographer who bragged about capturing John McCain in an unflattering light, and who duped the presidential candidate into posing for an even less flattering picture will not be paid for her photo, and may find herself the subject of a lawsuit, according to reports.

Jill Greenberg, whose work can be seen online at her site -- somewhat appropriately named "Manipulator" -- originally shot the cover image for Atlantic scribe Jeffrey Goldberg's October cover story, "The Wars Of John McCain." The New York Post describes how the session went down:

Greenberg, known for her heavily retouched pics of apes and babies, boasted to Photo District News that she submitted photos of the Arizona senator to the mag while barely airbrushing them.

"I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad," she boasted.

Greenberg also crowed that she had tricked McCain into standing over a strobe light placed on the floor -- turning the septuagenarian's face into a horror show of shadows.

Asking McCain to "please come over here" for a final shot, Greenberg pretended to be using a standard modeling light.

The resulting photos depict McCain as devilish, with bulging brows and washed-out skin.

"He had no idea he was being lit from below," Greenberg said, adding that none of his entourage picked up on the light switch either. "I guess they're not very sophisticated," she said.

According to the Post, Atlantic editor James Bennet was "appalled" at Greenberg's antics, saying, "Her behavior is outrageous. Incredibly unprofessional."

And, indeed, it is! But Goldberg himself says it best, "Suffice it to say that her 'art' is juvenile, and on occasion repulsive. This is not the issue, of course; the issue is that she betrayed this magazine, and disgraced her profession."

Bennet, who told Fox News that Greenberg "violated the terms of our agreement with her," is drafting a letter of apology to McCain.

NOTE: As has been pointed out to me, drilling down into Greeberg's site will unearth several photo renderings of John McCain that at least one Obama supporter, in an email to me, describes as "childish." It's only too true that the existence of these images is a testament to the photographer's juvenile sensibilities, but they seem to be a matter distinct from the concerns that led the Atlantic to take the actions they have taken.

Comments

[ammagirl]

I googled the photographer Jill Greenberg and found this:
www.imagebam.com/image/09c42113229641

[globality]

Is Mc Cain so confused that he doesn't know what is going on around him ??

[KiwisCanFly]

Greenberg's antics are distasteful and unprofessional.

[GayTalkExpress]

Stupid people. It's like commissioning Botero to paint your portrait and complaining that he made you look fat.

[lacasarosada]

what a bunch of bullocs this is! i hope Jill Greenberg sues the pants off the atlantic, she has an excellent case. first of all, an editor hires a photographer for their talent, experience and style. certainly Greenberg submitted a portfolio to get the job of photographing McCain. so why didn't the editor have the foresight to know if you wanted a handsome portrait of a bald, 72 year old man with skin cancer, maybe Jill Greenberg isn't your girl?

it's the job of the photo editor, art director and editor in chief to ponder the question: is this photographer right for this project? it's the responsibility of the publication to have the photo editor, art director or editor in chief to be present at a cover shoot, to be sure the photographer is capturing an image which best represents the publication. anyone who ever saw the movie The Poseidon Adventure would know, nobody looks good when lit from below. it's the job of the photo editor, art director and editors to review the image selected for the cover before the book goes to press.

this is another example of shooting the messenger. or in this case shooting the photographer. if the editors don't like their cover, they have no one to blame but themselves. there's a number of standard operating procedures every publication has to prevent this sort of thing from happening. i bet everyone at the Atlanic loved this cover... until the mail started coming in.

[gopSTEALSyourTAXmoney]

excellent post-------"72 year old man with skin cancer, maybe Jill Greenberg isn't your girl"?

[Maree2sister]

He looks like a cross between Boris Karloff and Richard Nixon in the second one!

[realpolitic]

Don't the people at the Atlantic look at the photo before they use it as their cover? They could have turned it down.

[eden4barack08]

I was just asking myself that too.

[RustyPatina]

Bingo - they shouldn't have used it if they didn't want to pay.
Atlantic's quality has really declined. It used to be a fine literary magazine.

[realpolitic]

I read it for years. It does seem they would take at the photo before putting it on their cover. I am sure Playboy magazine does. I think the Atlantic has declined as well. Not long ago they wrote a piece trying to redeem Rumsfield. No way!!

[eden4barack08]

A british newspaper some months ago, when McSame was in London, went to interview him in his hotel room. In his article he described his shock at seeing him for the first time without make up and without the photo touch ups. This writer, maybe because british have no fear of being PC, was very gruesome in his description of a bare McSame, so much it made me feel sorry for the old man.
That said, this photographer should not use trickery, but the American people deserve to get a real look at the man asking them for the Presidency.

[zelduh]

Does McCain always wear make-up when he is out and about? This is the first I have heard of make-up...

[SickOfTheCrap]

A lot of politicians (most? I dunno) wear make-up for staged appearances. Some observers speculated that Nixon's bad makeup hurt him in the televised debate against Kennedy in 1960 (those who only heard it on the radio thought Nixon had outperformed Kennedy).

[eden4barack08]

Yes, to hide his melanoma scars.

[KenHussein]

McSame's eyes and skin do look bad -he is old, and a Bush clone -there is no hiding that.

[useyourbrain]

That's what happens to a face when it spends so much time up the butts of lobbyists, oil company executives as well as a cramming session with McRove's minions.

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

Well, I guess the truth hurts!!!!

[TurtleGuy]

This really doesn't help anyone. She screwed her career, her magazine, and the photographic subject. McCain is demonic, but I really have no idea what the photog was trying to prove, and to whom.

[Sandy972]

But has anyone complained about the Ads coming from McCain showing Obama in the worst possible poses and lighting. Every ad about Obama looks like he is a ogler or someone lurking around the corner. But no one seems o care abou how those ads portray Obama.

So many double standards.

[loax]

Gee, I thought it was his official White House portrait!

[LillianB]

If they used the pics, they should pay for them. (Use the work, pay for the work.) Can't accuse the photographer for being "unprofessional" if the editors didn't do their job, and after printing found that the pics didn't "qualify" for printing. And an employee complaining about one's job ("bragging" one did it poorly) is not a get-out-of­-jail-card for the employers NOT to pay for the work actually done.

[smithshaw08]

Any man who would call his wife the C word to reporters, gets what he deserves. I applaud this photographer for exposing him for what he really is!!! Kudos Jill Greenberg.

[gumbot]

If you are gullible enough to believe that internet hoax you should keep it to yourself. You don't help by repeating it.

[ProFromOre]

On what evidence do you proclaim it as a hoax? There are numerous members of the press who admit hearing it, but won't write about it.

You're claiming it is a hoax. Put up or shut up. bub

[publanski]

By internet hoax, do you mean the one you are trying to perpetrate right now?

[useyourbrain]

But his wife is a C word so why wouldn't he call her that? Go to youtube and search for "McCain, angry" and look at the Senate hearing where he cursed out a woman who was head of a committee trying to find the bodies of those lost in action in Korea and Viet Nam.
Unbelievable and McCain knew he was on tape. McCain got to head that committee to hide his unsavory actions as a POW. Also check out the recent woman reporter he cursed out on his own campaign plane. The man is demented and hates women -- you can see how he treats them in those youtube videos.

People, make those videos VIRAL.

Obama/Biden '08