Recently, I received a message from a viewer that I found amusing. The message was referring to this photograph of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas:

Central High SchoolLittle Rock Central High School at 2120 W Daisy L Gatson Bates Drive in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 16, 2014. Little Rock Central High School is recognized for the role it played in the desegregation of public schools in the United States. The nine African-American students' persistence in attending the formerly all-white Central High School was the most prominent national example of the implementation of the May 17, 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. The viewer, a former Little Rock resident familiar with the school, made the following comment:

"Your photograph is much better than the real building, in my opinion. It's like what they say about Playboy centerfolds...the pictures look much better than the real models."

During my first several years of taking pictures, I heard just the opposite. People would comment how a photo can never capture the beauty of the real thing. Now, viewers of my photos in various internet photography forums are saying that some of the photographs make the subject look better than the real thing.

Progress? I hope so.