Before and After…?

If you have any interest in sports, bodybuilding, and the drug problems inherent in both, you should check out the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* by competitive weightlifter Christopher Bell. Bell has always prided himself on being drug-free and…well, let’s just say there’s only so much you can do without steroids. It goes into the world of sports, fitness modeling, bodybuilding, and other areas and pulls back the veil on a lot of the misinformation out there and just how prevalent PEDs really are.

I was reminded of the film today after a friend of mine on Facebook posted a status message asking why it was necessary that people in “after” photos for Fitness and Weight Loss programs are always at least five or six shades darker in skin tone. The answer, of course, is because most (if not all) of those photos are illusions. A lot of us already realize this; Don of course was being playfully facetious in simply pointing out the obvious rather than putting out an actual query. What people probably don’t realize, however, is that not only are those dramatic “before” and “after” pictures very easy to manipulate, but they’re often taken within close proximity of each other. Sometimes even on the same day.

See the clip below from the film, where Bell has a photographer who used to work in the trade subject him to the “before and after” photo manipulation process. It’s something I continue to find fascinating, particularly since I’ve always struggled with body image issues.