Good image makers have always understood their roles in the fabrication of truth within a photograph. Photographic evidence has been debunked for decades, even before digital photography came about most understood the tremendous amount of narrative power the photographer / editor had. This is realized by not only what is in the frame but what is left out. Photography is a subtractive medium; we edit the world with our viewfinders - Stephen Shore
The medium is able to straddle the line between reality and fiction. In this realm we are able to leave photographic truth behind and begin to look for truth that is more universal. This translation is what makes the photograph so powerful.
In the image above all the distracting, chaotic elements that surrounded this scene were eliminated when composing, and a soft and meditative southern landscape was rendered. The heavily trafficked and littered highway with a chemical plant backdrop almost goes unnoticed, allowing a view of the world that is dishonest but certainly more optimistic, refined and hopeful.