a roll a month keeps the dr away...

Hi everyone:

Kids are sleeping, so I'm blogging today without musical accompaniment. I'm also on the cusp of another cold, but I'm fighting it hard - as evidenced by my sleepy nature of late. Bear with me if I start to become incoherent.

I decided this week that I'm gonna try shooting one roll a month. Now, for most photographers, this is something they'd do in their sleep (note the sleep motif again). But for me, I've always shot VERY selectively - I do a lot of cropping in camera, and was never someone who subscribed to the "shoot a whole bunch of film - you're bound to get something" idea. My professors in art school would always say: "Film is cheap, so shoot a lot of it!" Problem is, they weren't a poor art student at the time. Plus, money was almost always tight during my upbringing, so I suppose I probably learned to be judicious about how I photographed. I also like to think that, even though I never knew I'd become a photo editor, I've always had a little bit of that in me.

Of course, a lot of this has changed with the advent of easily accessible digital technology - but a lot of people forget how much editing you need to do when you shoot 1000 pictures on a digital camera. And if you don't edit, you run into a storage issue, and things can begin to spiral out of control very quickly. I've always been a believer in "less is more" and I've shot that way my entire life. If I was a photo-journalist by trade, that might be different, but for the kind of work I do, this working method suits me quite well.

So, 1 roll a month - I've shot for February already and the film should be processed by early next week. If it sucks, I may need to shoot a second one.

The other item of note I wanted to discuss today was the pending case of the Obama poster illustration and AP's claim that they are entitled to compensation for the photo in their collection that was used as a starting point for the poster art. In many cases, photo editors are also image rights and licensing specialists - and this is an arena I know a little something about.

I thought about it, and at first, I thought AP was entitled to some compensation. But, upon thinking about it more, I wasn't so sure and then I heard an interview with an intellectual property atty in D.C., and though she didn't give her opinion (like I will below) I am convinced it is Fair Use - though I didn't agree with her on everything she said.

In situations like this, the criteria are:

1. Is the original factual or creative? The atty thought factual, but her reasoning sucked. She thought factual because the image is pure photo journalism, documenting an actual event, without a lighting set-up, etc. Obviously, we as photogs know this is B.S. - the way the photographer framed the shot, cropped it , post production, etc. is part of the creative process of making an image. A photo is a creative work, no matter what.

2. Is the piece transformative, or simply a derivative? Seems to me to be transformative - it's a completely different-looking image with a whole new meaning and audience, and the context for its creation is completely different than that of the original.

3. Is there monetary damage to the original as a result of the new work? In other words, in this case, does the presence of the poster/new illustration eliminate the need for the original picture or negatively impact usage fees on the original? Uh, no - nobody is going to use this illustration if they want a photo of Obama. Completely different audience in my opinion, and they would rarely (if ever) compete against each other for a usage fee.

4. Is it commercial or non-profit? This one takes some sorting out I would imagine, since the artist never received money from the poster, but the image has been used all over the place and is for sale. My opinion? AP will ask to be credited as a source wherever the poster illustration runs from now on, the artist will likely agree, and that will be the end of it. Nobody wants to see something like this drag on, particularly when the subject of the work is someone who is trying to fix the REAL problems we have in this country. Bad press for AP.

Well, that's my two cents for now. Have a good weekend everyone!


-Marc

'till the fingers bleed

Hi all:

No blogging music tonight - I'm at home, it's kinda late and I don't want to wake anyone up. And my headphones aren't nearby - so oh well. My sleep schedule is all messed-up from this weekend, and I really should be trying to sleep, since I'm on the verge of getting a cold, but whatever...

Anyway, you're here to find out about art news, and I have a little to share. I just finished a roll of film today actually - I'll be dropping it off for processing tomorrow and we'll see if I got anything decent. Yes, you heard right - I don't process my own film. I pretty much stopped doing that my senior year of art school, when I decided that it was basically the pain-in-the-ass step between shooting and printing, and I no longer felt the need to do every little tiny step myself. Of course, if I needed to push, pull, or cross-process, I'd handle it personally, but for normal stuff, I'm thrilled to pay someone else. When I first moved to PA, I was nervous about finding a lab - but I found someone great who does everything out of her house. She had a retail space until the recession hit, and then she just decided to cut some costs. If she ever goes out-of-business, I'm going to be very unhappy.

This particular roll is the first one I've shot in the dead of winter with this camera, believe it or not. I was just thinking about that today, and am curious how the snow is going to read- particularly if any of these are decent enough to put through the printing process I've been using. We'll see...

Beyond that, I'm supposed to be in this show in March, but I have no idea if it is still happening. I asked the gallery director twice if she had made a decision on the work she wanted, and she said she'd let me know. In our last e-mail, she mentioned that they were struggling a bit due to the economy, so I have no idea what's going on. But, certain pieces will require re-printing, and if this goes on much longer, I may have to bow out. I'd rather do that than rush things and contribute less than my best effort.

Otherwise, I have no firm exhibition plans - which is fine right now. I can then spend most of my time creating new work (see previous post). I would like to do at least 1 show in 2009 though, even if it's just a group show. 1 show per year is good for the resume, and I feel like that is a very attainable goal. Once the new body of work is built up, I'll probably try and step that up a bit. The gallery in Easton, PA which I showed at in December is having another show in March, so I may throw my hat in the ring for that - we'll see.

On another topic, for the past couple of years, I have found myself gravitating a lot towards printmaking of various kinds: etchings, engravings, block prints, etc. I can't explain why - the tones, lines, the textural quality - I just love looking at them. Maybe it's back to that whole "loss" thing - how the detail or loss in a print changes depending on process, edition #, etc.

In fact, the first piece I ever bought from a gallery was an etching - which I just had re-framed, ironically using a frame for one of my older pieces which I no longer care for. Anyway, I still love it as much as the day I bought it.

Well, that's it for now - I'll keep everyone posted on the new work. Fingers crossed! FYI- the title of tonight's post refers to this evening: while manually winding the film back into the canister, (the camera has no rewind button or mechanism) I pulled some skin off of my finger. Not a lot, but enough to make me feel like I'd suffered a little. Between that and the frigid temperatures I endured while shooting, I'd better get something from this one!

Later...

-Marc