“Just arrived in the mail: A D magazine “special edition” with the headline “Why Black Achievers Choose Dallas.” It’s good that D is making an attempt to cover the black community. But (of course there is a but) why segregate the coverage into a separate magazine? And did they really need to feature a lovely businesswoman who’s showing lots of cleavage on the cover?”
That led to a comment thread wherein Everbach offered more opinions of our cover:
“I doubt she chose her wardrobe — people rarely do for a magazine cover. Also, the cover is so obviously Photoshopped that you can tell the artist emphasized the cleavage on purpose. She may not even have known it would be so prominent. Take a look and see if you agree.”
And:
“Look at the shading in the cleavage area. It is clearly altered. The cleavage area is much lighter than the curve of her breasts. That is not natural…it is highlighted. Her skin color is altered as well. Look at her hands — they are much darker than her face and her chest. This is a technique commonly done to African-American women in magazines. This is the same type of photography done in fashion magazines — it is altered to the point where it is a distortion of reality. I can point you to websites that will show you original photos and how they are altered by Photoshop if you want to know more about the topic. Also, no one gets to choose their own wardrobe for the cover of a magazine. (I have studied fashion and popular mags and can tell you a lot about this. It’s all an illusion.)”
Bear in mind that Everbach, a woman who teaches college kids about reporting, made these assertions without attempting to ask anyone at the magazine whether we’d altered the photograph. When someone alerted me to what Everbach was saying on Facebook, I wanted to respond. First, though, I made sure I knew what I was talking about. I didn’t think we’d lightened Warrior’s skin or enhanced her cleavage or even dressed her for the shoot — but I wanted to make certain. I talked to our creative director, Todd Johnson, and the freelance photographer who shot the image, Dan Sellers.
Sellers’ response: “She looks just like she did when she walked in my door.” We didn’t pick the dress. We didn’t alter her skin tone. Neither did Sellers.
By the time I heard back from Sellers, though, Everbach had taken down her Facebook post. I messaged her directly and told her what I had confirmed about the cover. She said she’d taken down the thread because of an inappropriate comment, not because of anything she’d written.
Perhaps when this faculty meeting to discuss the Mayborn Conference takes place, they can chat about this, too.
