Photoshop is a computer program used to change and edit pictures, and it is amazing what it can do. Photoshop removes bags from under celebrities eyes, crow’s feet also disappear, and skin tone changes. The changes that can be made in Photoshop to a picture are virtually unlimited. Posing a model under the perfect soft artificial light makes a world of difference. Then having a professional doing the set-up and pulling the trigger on the camera means they bring their professional eye and experience to the equation, and you have another level of illusion.
Here, is a minute and a half video showing the power of make-up and Photoshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&feature=related
Oh and don’t forget plastic surgery.
All of these items contribute to the whole illusion, and that is what it is, an illusion. You and I can say, “I know it isn’t real” but your mind doesn’t know it. It will accept much without question. Your mind doesn’t audit the process initially it just makes an assessment, good, bad, threat, non-threat, that sort of thing. So when you see the illusion, you accept it with out critical assessment.
Go back and look at the :50 mark of the video, where the picture goes on a billboard. Look at her neck, it is elongated, but not so much as to be abnormal, just not real. Now you might also notice that you looked at the picture and you don’t analyze it, you accepted it even knowing that her neck had been changed.
“OK,” you say, “Where is this going?” Well let me extend the Photoshop metaphor. Violence is ugly, it rarely goes as planned, and an elegant dojo solution is not likely to withstand the pressure of effective and swift violence.
I would suggest to you that if not careful a dojo can turn into a form of martial arts Photoshop, a room with perfect light, governed by a professional, in the robes of authority, dictating and guiding the process.
Look, I am not dissing the dojo experience, good grief I run a dojo! It takes effort, and a keen eye to ensure that the dojo retains the metaphorical crows feet and bags under the eyes, call it an attempt to keep it real …while of course being safe.
