I was struck by the photo on the frontpage of the BKK Post today.

Its subtitle reads: People who lost everything to cyclone Nargi - their homes and all their belongings - wait anxiously yesterday for relief to arrive at Labutta on the Irrawaddy delta. (AFP)

Initially, i liked it. then I started feeling a bit uneasy. I have taken group photos myself in village situations, and know how difficult it is to get everybody's attention. But in this photo, there seems to be something unreal, it has a feeling almost as if it was airbrushed, or as if it was a photo-realist ' painting. It just seems too 'neat. Everyone looks clean, with seemingly clean clothes on, well tended. the monk on the right is smoking (a cigarette?), as is probably the man in uniform in the foreground. It looks more like they are watching a parade, rather then being 'anxious disaster victims'.

I do not want to comment on the terrible thing that happened in Burma, enough is being said about that. I just want to know if I am imagining things, or if anyone else has the same unease. Is this image real?

I cannot locate the photo that you refer to on the BKK Post web site,

so I cannot comment directly.

However the old adage comes to mind.......

The camera does not lie, but the photographer can.

Perhaps it is file photo that BKKP think portrays the right image and will evoke the

sympathy that these people undoubtedly need.

The photo looks OK to me. Some of the people are looking at the snapper but most are looking at something happening to the left of the photog. Doesn't look "touched-up" to me. Also it is an AFP pic and they aren't known for touching up pics.

Cigarettes always seem to survive these calamities. And yes the monk and the soldier are both smoking.