old_contents: from numpy import array
  
  def imread(fname, flatten=False):
      """Load an image from file.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      fname : string
          Image file name, e.g. ``test.jpg``.
      flatten : bool
          If true, convert the output to grey-scale.
  
      Returns
      -------
      img_array : ndarray
          The different colour bands/channels are stored in the
          third dimension, such that a grey-image is MxN, an
          RGB-image MxNx3 and an RGBA-image MxNx4.
  
      """
      try:
          from PIL import Image
      except ImportError:
          raise ImportError("Could not import the Python Imaging Library (PIL)"
                            " required to load image files.  Please refer to"
                            " http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PIL/ for installation"
                            " instructions.")
  
      im = Image.open(fname)
      if flatten:
          im = im.convert('F')
      return array(im)
  
  
new_contents: __all__ = ['imread']
  
  from numpy import array
  
  def imread(fname, flatten=False):
      """Load an image from file.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      fname : string
          Image file name, e.g. ``test.jpg``.
      flatten : bool
          If true, convert the output to grey-scale.
  
      Returns
      -------
      img_array : ndarray
          The different colour bands/channels are stored in the
          third dimension, such that a grey-image is MxN, an
          RGB-image MxNx3 and an RGBA-image MxNx4.
  
      """
      try:
          from PIL import Image
      except ImportError:
          raise ImportError("Could not import the Python Imaging Library (PIL)"
                            " required to load image files.  Please refer to"
                            " http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PIL/ for installation"
                            " instructions.")
  
      im = Image.open(fname)
      if flatten:
          im = im.convert('F')
      return array(im)
  
  
subject: Add imread to io namespace.