Copyrights for Artists

Intellectual property rights are not sexy. But for most artists this is the only thing that protects our creations from being stolen and used without our permission.

It’s why I put my copyright on the face of everything I post online. The law is very black and white, but the way most people apply it is full of grey areas. One of the ways I’m trying to improve the situation is simply understanding the law and talking to others about it.

Several months ago I ran into an acquaintance who makes a significant part of her income hosting big events – not incidentally, she’s also an artist. I complimented her on some recent promotion she had done, and asked about the photograph she used. (I thought it might have been by a local photographer whom I know). She looked a little embarrassed and admitted to having appropriated it off the Internet.

We had a good conversation about it, and I told her what copyright laws meant to me as an artist. I suggested that next time she could try to ask a photographer for the rights to use their photo. Some need the exposure, and might do it just for a photo credit. I also suggested if she could afford to pay even a small amount, she could approach local photographers – or even photography students -- to get the image she wanted. She listened, and seemed to appreciate and understand. I felt good for standing up for the rights of all my fellow image makers.

Flash forward to last week. I saw this person’s latest promotion for another of her events. Again, she had used a very striking image on the poster (above).  I noticed there was no photo credit, so on a hunch, I did a quick web search and found this photograph, and others from the same photo shoot, were being used all over the place.  This makes upsets me, but it also just makes me sad for the photographer. It doesn’t surprise me that the general public doesn’t think about artists, our concerns, or our ability to make money from our creations -- but I do expect other artists to respect this.

I tried to track down the photographer who created this image, and make sure they knew what was going on. But for all the instances of image use, I could find no copyright or photo credit anywhere. I gave up on tracking the photographer down...I've already invested too much time in something that when you take it down to the personal level is none of my business. Instead, I want to learn from this incident in a general way, to serve as a reminder that artists need to protect their images!

Nice Portrait Session Yesterday with Kaley

I got an urgent call a couple days ago from one of my recent family portrait clients, with an emergency portrait need. Daughter Kaley has done some school plays, and now wants to move on to community theater at The Lakewood Playhouse. Auditions are next Monday, for Sweeney Todd (one of here favorites), and Kaley needed an 8x10 headshot to leave behind after her try-out. Could I do the job that quickly?

Well, I just got my home studio up and running last week, and was eager to give it a real-life tryout. So of course my answer was "yes."

We kept things pretty basic for Kaley's shoot, with dark clothing, plain background, and soft lighting to show off her pretty, fresh face. Kaley's not a big smiler, but I'm told she has a sassy and mischievous side. That's what we tried to bring out, and I think that's what we got. She and Mom were both happy. And I'm sure her headshot will help the casting director remember her after the audition. All I can say is "break a leg," Kaley!

Motionless Motion with Emotion

I'm not over this cold yet, but I am back to work. On my plate today is continuing to explore movement in still photography. I find it interesting that our minds can make the leap between seeing an image of a blurred object, and knowing that what we're actually seeing is an object in motion. It's not how we see motion, yet we know that's what's pictured. Has the human mind always been able to make this leap, or is it only through conditioning and repeated viewing that we now recognize the blur for what it is?

On the flip-side, when we see a photo of something perfectly frozen in mid-motion, our first reaction is often momentary confusion. If you see a picture of a person jumping, and both feet are caught off the ground, it often causes a double-take moment where you have to engage your brain to decipher what you see. How is that person frozen in mid-air? Why does their hair seem to defy gravity? Similarly, when we see super-slo-mo video depiction of fast movement, we suddenly see details we never imagined were happening - it seems unreal, but because we're seeing the full movement we don't questions whether it's real. It's just an undeniably weird thing to see. The Discovery Channel has a fascinating series on movement called Time Warp.

A different take on movement comes from an arts collective in Los Angeles that goes by the name of Syyn Labs. They did brilliant work last year in creating a Rube Goldberg machine for the song This Too Shall Pass by Ok Go. The video has been a huge YouTube sensation, and really good fun.

There are my thoughts on movement and still photography for today. Now I'm going to take advantage of the beautiful day we're experiencing and get myself in motion to go find some interesting movement to photograph.