--- title: David E. Scherman: Self-Proclaimed 'Pioneer of the Made-Up Picture' description: "I was enough of a journalist to realize that you invent a good picture. I was the pioneer of the made-up, faked picture." canonical: https://time.com/3880722/advice-from-the-pioneer-of-the-made-up-picture/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-19T16:34:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:38.010Z og:title: David E. Scherman: Self-Proclaimed 'Pioneer of the Made-Up Picture' og:description: "I was enough of a journalist to realize that you invent a good picture. I was the pioneer of the made-up, faked picture." og:url: https://time.com/3880722/advice-from-the-pioneer-of-the-made-up-picture/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd25f4702b3be4ee0/69884c5635ba6f6095c0ce48/140820-wwii-lemon-shortage.jpg?branch=production&width=727&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 727 og:image:height: 409 og:image:alt: Lemon Auction, 1944 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: David E. Scherman: Self-Proclaimed 'Pioneer of the Made-Up Picture' twitter:description: "I was enough of a journalist to realize that you invent a good picture. I was the pioneer of the made-up, faked picture." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd25f4702b3be4ee0/69884c5635ba6f6095c0ce48/140820-wwii-lemon-shortage.jpg?branch=production&width=727&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Let Us Now Praise a 'Pioneer of the Made-Up Picture' > Sponsored content. 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Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=7e0fdb00-1cd1-4b6f-a1fa-8eaf22a95628&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/subscribe?i=7e0fdb00-1cd1-4b6f-a1fa-8eaf22a95628&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What should I watch or read, according to TIME? Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 19, 2014 4:34 PM UTC  In the midst of a wartime lemon shortage, a woman "auctions off" a lemon in London, 1944\. (The auction was staged by photographer David Scherman.) In the midst of a wartime lemon shortage, a woman "auctions off" a lemon in London, 1944\. (The auction was staged by photographer David Scherman.) David E. Scherman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 19, 2014 4:34 PM UTC The myth: All photographers, especially in times of crisis or conflict, strive to capture events as they happen—in the moment—in order to convey an accurate, unvarnished picture of those events to their contemporaries and to future generations. The reality: Nonsense! Consider, for example, the quite excellent and illustrative career of David E. Scherman, who was a LIFE staff photographer for eight years, from 1939 through 1947\. He covered World War II, the liberation of Dachau, world’s fairs, great artists, obscure debutantes, college basketball and countless other topics. But, as Scherman also noted in a [1993 interview with John Loengard](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Photographers-What-They-Saw/dp/0821225189), his own concept of photojournalism was “that it’s pictorialism with a meaning. . . . If you didn’t get the picture at the exact instant, you kept the meaning in mind, and you faked the picture, or reframed it. . . . I was enough of a journalist to realize that you invent a good picture. I was the pioneer of the made-up picture. The faked, invented picture.” --- > “” --- In 1953, upon returning to LIFE after a post-war leave of absence, Scherman transitioned—at longtime managing editor Edward K. Thompson’s insistence—from photographer to editor. “I want you to become an editor,” Scherman recalled Thompson telling him, “and claw your way to the top. You weren’t a very good photographer anyhow.” “So for the next 20 years,” Scherman said, “I clawed my way, not to the top, but somewhere close to the top.” David E. Scherman was a senior editor at LIFE (see portrait below) when the magazine stopped publishing as a weekly in 1972\. He died in 1997.  In this Tuesday, March 25, 2014 file photo, U.S. astronaut Steven Swanson, left, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, speak with relatives during pre-launch preparations at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  In the midst of a wartime lemon shortage, a woman "auctions off" a lemon in London, 1944\. (The auction was staged by photographer David Scherman.) David E. Scherman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE photographer and editor David Scherman at his desk, 1960. 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