Carson Powers

Mrs. Batson

Composition I

21 February 2024

Tourist Guy

With the rise of technology, photoshop has become more common and accessible for the

average person. However, like any new innovative technology, it can be misused. Digital

manipulation has led everybody to question the authenticity of any photo online whether it’s a

news article photo, social media photo, or advertisement photo. There have been several

infamous photographs that have been manipulated for the sake of creating an internet sensation.

One photo that caught my attention was the “Tourist Guy” photo. This photo has a tourist

standing on the observation deck on the top of the original World Trade Center in New York City.

In the background, an aircraft can be seen heading towards the tower. When this photo circulated

around the internet, people were claiming that this camera was found in the rubble after the

attacks although it is very unlikely for a camera to survive a fall from a building as tall as the

south tower (“The Strange Photographs Used to ‘Prove’ Conspiracy Theories”).

The original photo was taken by a Hungarian tourist, Peter Guzli, who visited the World

Trade Center in 1997, four years before the attacks took place (“The Man Who Wasn’t There”).

After the attacks, he remembered the pictures he took four years ago. He then digitally

manipulated the photo by adding a plane he found online into the background (“The Man Who

Wasn’t There”). He also added a fake date stamp that read “09/11/01” (“The Man Who Wasn’t

There”). While there were only two changes, those two changes completely changed the meaning

of the photo. Without the changes, the tourist is simply enjoying his time on the top of the World
Trade Center. With the changes, it seems the Hungarian tourist is in the middle in the deadliest

terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history.

The reason for the tourist digitally manipulating the photo is very simple. However, he

never intended for the photo to spread across the entire internet as one of the first internet hoaxes

(“The Strange Photographs Used to ‘Prove’ Conspiracy Theories”). He edited the photograph as

an attempt of dark humor for his friends to see. However, one of his friends started sending the

picture to various emails and the photo immediately spread across the internet in a matter of

weeks (“The Man Who Wasn’t There”).

Despite him manipulating the photo in this way, he was not trying to be unethical. When

there are small details that are lost, digitally editing them in back is okay (“The Greater Good:

Ethics of Photojournalism”). However, it becomes unacceptable “When the image becomes

unnatural, painterly, or its content has been altered, then it is no longer ethical to use” (“The

Greater Good: Ethics of Photojournalism”). Despite him doing this, he never intended for the

photo to be on the internet in the first place. He simply edited the photo as a joke only for his

friends to see (“The Strange Photographs Used to ‘Prove’ Conspiracy Theories”). The photo just

ended up in the wrong hands.

Ethics in photo manipulation is important because it creates more trust on the internet for

having accurate and reliable information. Ignoring these ethics makes way for misinformation

and false internet hoaxes. The uploading of “Tourist Guy” was a group effort in ignoring ethics.

The tourist created a false image and his friend uploaded the video with the false story.
 Works Cited

III, JP Beato, and Photo courtesy of Michael Mulvey. “The Greater Good: Ethics of

Photojournalism.” Students, m.tamu.edu/current/battalion/detail?

feed=battalion_lifearts&id=f578fefa-b144-527c-ba8f-f0e3395db4ff. Accessed 20 Feb.

2024.

“The Man Who Wasn’t There.” The Man Who Wasn’t There": Story of the Tourist Guy Photo,

septterror.tripod.com/touristguy.html. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.

Sooke, Alastair. “The Strange Photographs Used to ‘prove’ Conspiracy Theories.” BBC News,

BBC, 24 Feb. 2022, www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170216-five-photographs-used-to-

prove-conspiracy-theories.