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