my imaginary title for this two picture essay is “Closing Time”….taken in Austin, Texas last week…both without me getting out of my seat….some of you probably imagine me running all over the place, but when i am shooting i usually do not move much…i do a lot of photography while sitting down…used the car window frame for a tripod on the car/train shot and i only got up to get the waitress’ name, Amanda, so i could send her a picture….and i invented a story in my head to connect the two pictures….i started thinking American Graffitti, Paris Texas, Last Picture Show, Five Easy Pieces..well, sometimes i get carried away…
point is i am always playing….particularly when i am supposed to be working…those who know me will tell you i do a pretty good job of combining work and play..oftentimes confusing the two….sometimes to my detriment, but often at the heart of it…and no doubt one of the reasons i have enjoyed every minute of being a photographer…i think i have taken pictures almost every day of my life since i was 12 or so…with gusto…one of these days i had better get that archive really organized…hmmm
however, the real photographers last week were my students…i do not show much student work here on Burn for fear of being accused of playing favorites with those i mentor…but, when i saw the last student show at the Austin Museum of Art after we had worked so hard on it, i realized that getting in on an essay from the ground up so to speak, definitely has its advantages…not to direct the photographer, but merely to stimulate the photographer…so i plan now to get in earlier with many young photographers and work with them the way most print magazines do with their work and in the same fashion as i do with my students……involvement early on….not as a necessary prerequisite…some essays come in done done…but, for those who would most benefit from an early “have you ever thought about it this way?” nudge……
while i will continue and encourage essays that are totally finished, i will now encourage also relevant ideas….literal or conceptual….ideas that can be developed…i will set up soonest a mechanism for idea submission along with our standard submission guidelines….one of the advantages of this is that out of this i think will develop a strong cadre of photographers who have chosen to publish original work on Burn…at the same time , i will be looking for sponsors to finance this work…
as most of you know we broke ground by getting the Nachtwey TB essay on Burn sponsored by BD..Jim was paid well and Burn was paid for production…i am now doing a new budget with BD to see if we can also get funding for some of you…so study what BD does…send me some ideas with a link to your work…and i think all of you know in general that if Burn in any way receives sponsorship, the first thing that will happen with the funds is to pay for your photography published…all photographers whose work will appear in the upcoming print edition of Burn will receive royalties based on sales…this will be an on demand collector edition of Burn…
with the IPad coming we should position ourselves to be ready…yes, we need to go to an HTML platform and yes this is all new territory, but fate has put us in an interesting position….i am sure you can see it…sponsors might too….in addition, as president of Magnet, the new Magnum company designed to help reinvent content presentation on the net, i am working closely with Gilles Peress our online guru visionary, and Alex Webb, president of Magnum…while Burn is my baby, Magnum is my patron..and the two are not mutually exclusive..keep an eye on us….
in the meantime, i am going to sit down….reflect a bit….enjoy the evening…watch prints come off the printer …..it is not closing time around here just yet…
-dah-
panos–
yep, still with the kids.. :))
when are you coming back for a visit?
Hey David, think what you say is bang on regarding your influence earlier in essay creation. You were instrumental in so many of the essays (including mine) that we worked on in Austin last week – like a great conductor for the orchestra allowing each ‘musician’ to do their thing but elevating and stimulating the performance at the same time. The guidance away from factual, process ridden approaches toward the esoteric, interpretative and emotional was so valuable and this influence is valuable, perhaps critical, at concept stage. With the approach you are planning I m sure you will see a new wave of creativity. Cheers!
I am beginning to understand what dah is talking about now. Sometimes it takes forever to get caught up with all the posts. Good morning all, from Maui. The moon was absolutely stunning last night.
PATRICIA,
Good morning and apologies. Yes, lets not let this devolve into the form many other boy oriented forums become. I just don’t like being equated with FOX news commentators.
RE COPYRIGHT:
Somebody above had a good point about choosing which battles to fight. If you can’t discern that then you can end up a quivering angry bitter mess (and I’ve seen it happen). I feel no need to go after fan websites that use my work (esp if they credit) or homemade youtube videos, etc. It does cross the line when a watch company starts using a copyrighted published image of mine for promotion without even asking: yes it’s a small company with no money (aren’t they all :)). It would have been simple to ask and we probably could have ended up with a good mutual working relationship, money or no. It’s not always about money – exposure etc can be just as important. Anyway, I could have thrown a lawyer and a year of my life at them and maybe come out ahead. Instead I just read them the riot act, politely, got a little out of it – and then discovered they were still using the image! I left them a really nasty nasty call and that was that. My point being that it wasn’t worth losing sleep and lawyer fees over but worth making them stop.
So Imants (and Bob), if a buddy of yours was to call saying, hey, cool seeing your image on, say, so and so’s surfboard (for lack of a better example), without you knowing the first thing about it, would you go, “hey that’s fantastic! I hope they also make t-shirts and use it as a billboard. Would be nice if they got me a few $ and some samples but I won’t sweat it.” Somehow I doubt it. Now I know there’s not much money to be had there, but it’s more a matter of respect for another’s work than anything else. A token can go a long way. It’s also about the values you represent as a photographer/person. Maybe you wouldn’t want the work to represent so and so company, $ or no.
I do agree that photographers (everybody for that matter) need to change and be flexible with the times. A lot of photographers thought they would retire on stock photography (you know model talking into cell phone) back in the early 2000′s when that was hot. But along came the crash and the advent of penny stock and for a lot that has dried up. Time to move on. But own your work. Yes, Bob, in the moment it’s best to just work and not worry so much about the future. But someday that future will come and you just might be “oh shit.” You never know. And everybody’s experience is different.
Okay, back to the topic. What was it? :)
Hey, obviously too much time on my hands this morning. So in homage to Panos’s little day-to-day projects (which I enjoy and wish more of you did stuff like that) and Brazil, particularly Bahia, and Sunday mornings in general–I made this. Warning, contains content, both explicit, implicit, and audible. May be nsfw, nsftfofh, nsftifs, nsfysig, and nsftwasoh.
Thanks Michael. Early here and drinking coffee watching your little clip made me smile.
Waiting for the water to boil to pour into the french press, I noticed the oven mitt on my hand and with the copyright discussions still in my mind I wondered who made the first oven hand mitt. Because now everyone and their dog (Martha Stewart for one with her many dogs) make and sell oven mitts. I can see the little housewife maybe back in the 50′s designing one for herself and giving them away as gifts, never even imagining where she could have taken it if she had gotten a copyright.
Like I said, it is early!
Lee.. but.. nobody has gone to the little housewife, taken her mitts, and said: these were mine, not yours..
AUDREY…
it was a pleasure to work with you on your parents project…a delightful collaboration to be sure…
BOB …IMANTS
just to elaborate a bit (since my flight was canceled AGAIN)…and to add to what Charles wrote…please remember one can keep copyright on their work, but this has nothing to do with whether or not you exercise this right to monetize your work…equating copyright ownership to being “money hungry” is a total misrepresentation of why photographers should own their work…i give away my pictures all the time for the right reasons…benefit auctions, school use,student thesis use,portfolio books,internet use, pro bono exhibitions, gifts, etc etc…i am very surprised that either one of you would possibly have any argument against photographer rights…as i said, if you own it , you can always give it away…if you do not, it will be taken away…simple as that…
i doubt either one of you has signed a piece of paper waiving your legal artistic ownership…so, you own your work outright….keep it, then do as you please..
cheers, david
Eva I don’t know; the era of the time certainly would have condoned it. I totally believe in rights to my art. I give it away a lot, mostly actually.
I find that those restrictions I impose when I allow someone to use a photo are forgotten and there doesn’t seem to be any recourse except legal action which goes against the grain. Are the infractions harmful to me as an artist to have a friend use one of my photos as a profile photo on Facebook and her webpage? I could say yes, she continually forgets to give photo credit, which is my only restriction with one particular friend. Even when I worked for a filmmaker on a shoot for a non-profit it took months to get the paper signed and then he didn’t use the photographs out of some kind of spite. And this is a person who would never allow his films to be used without his authority and/or payment.
However, those magazines that have published my photos have done it properly and the exposure I received for the brief time the mag was in circulation produced a couple of good leads.
I like DAH’s advise, keep it, then do as you please. That suits me perfectly.
David;
Regarding people dropping out of projects; I think party of the problem is that they seem such a good idea at the time, but take so much energy, time and even dollars to sustain. For some maybe the thought is better than overcoming the hurdles when undertaking it?
I’m now 12 months into the kids project and planning to shoot it for another 12 months (til the end of next March-our summer) and ramp up the shooting to a higher level during the year. The most difficult aspect for me has been trying to shoot it around paying work.
However a close second would be that you seem to do a lot of shooting, but haven’t actually completed anything yet! I’ve often thought about shooting a quick 3-5 day essay so I can actually feel that I’ve started and finished a project. But I know that if I can spare that time away I’d end up shooting the kids project anyway!
Plus; it’s also a bit scary knowing you have invested so much in a project that hinges on your own vision to make it come together. Often it seems like a game of shadow boxing; and of course you never catch up!
It’s certainly a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, guessing and second guessing! But I do feel that it has pushed my work further along than I could have imagined! Too much invested to give it up now…. To obsessed to give it up now too…
Anyone else have thoughts on their long term projects?
Cheers
“He who wants a rose must respect the thorn.”
Persian Proverb
Can I dance now???
Dance your heart out!!! :-)
hehehe, this one is brilliant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ScWu7pG7r0&feature=player_embedded
Lee, I think all is fine as long as it’s YOU deciding giving and not others taking away..
Ross, have to say that I’m not a photographer, my paid work has absolutely nothing to do with photography, but it allows me to keep on going with my longterm projects.. one I hope to finish this summer, the next one not before late Fall 2012.. every now and then I’m tempted to just bin everything.. nobody would care, or even notice. So to have somebody to share with the pics, the ideas, kick your butt, can make a difference.. but I don’t know if it’s the same for professionals..
ROSS
I’ve just looked at your work on Photoshelter and am BLOWN AWAY!!! God, man, you are REALLY doin’ it. Especially the color shots in those nightspots. WOW!!!!!
Patricia
Patricia; Thanks for the kind words, still gotta keep raising the bar though… :-)
The copyright issue goes beyond a bunch of photographs, articles , logos, intellectual property,DNA, buildings etc all can come within the copyright banner. There is even a company that wants to copyright a very popular shade of red. For photographers eventually the content aware tool may become a must have too along with the shutter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI&feature=player_embedded#
Most of you are worried about yourselves and rights grabbing your images, but so called rights grabbing is extending to every aspect of our lives, wait till there is a earnest effort to grab rights to your image content whether it is accidental or not.
How have most got away with stuff under the guise of post modernism
The Postmodern is described as:
A world that brings challenge/doubt/suspicion/scepticism to the assumptions
Artworks as texts that achieve their power and meaning through intertextuality. Intertextuality refers to other texts rather than the individual, society or structure for meaning. Artworks may be thought of as configurations of previous texts that mimic, appropriate and reinterpret other ideas in art to reveal paradoxical and hidden assumptions about what art is.
Artists as challengers of the prevailing views about what is of value in art, and who use parody, irony and satire to expose power assumptions.
Eventually Campbell’s soup may decide that Andy’s pre postmodernist work http://images.google.com.au/images?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&resnum=0&q=campbell%27s%20soups%20Andy%20Warhol&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi does not fit under the “reinterpretation” banner and grab all rights to the work and demand that it is destroyed as it is detrimental to the companies image.
Now with that shade of red……….
DAVID/ALL :))
let me try to elaborate/clarify a bit more. It was very late at night and i was doing a sequence edit for my essay and jumping around, so let’s see if this makes more sense.
I am ABSOLUTELY behind and concerned about artist’s rights, particularly with regard to their rights. Im an original signer of the Oprhans Bill petition and i wrote to my former congressman and senators offering my opinion on that looming legislation. Also, I a writer. So, i’ve got double interest and concerns here. I’m a bit worried about, for example, Google’s digitalization of all books and trying to wrap my head around that and spend alot of time with a friend of mine who is a filmmaker (who hates copyrights for imagery) and novelists (where he has found himself in a conundrum). Like me, Mike Hoolboom writes and makes imagery and we’re often trying to figure this one out.
Also, like Tolstoy, i dont believe in the idea of ownership of something for posterity’s sake. He gave away his copyright, at least he tried, of his work. Like music, i feel artistic work belongs to the world and should be shared. the problem, as Charles and others have raised, has to do with who benefits materially. I am not troubled that others benefit financially from my work. Shit, like i said, i publish photographs in magazines that dont ‘pay’ me, strictly speaking. but the personal, artistic and spiritual benefit I received from my relationship here at burn has been both invaluable and priceless. Same with my new essay to be published next week: the relationship that i’ve built with them and i am sure the benefit of what will happen once people see this work and read the text (yes both are long!) will benefit me tangibly. and as i said, above all my only material concerns are how i can earn to provide for Marina and Dima including whatever i have to give dima when i die, and most of what i will have materially will be my life’s work: photographs and books. I think it is a necessary right that all artists retain control of what they wish to do with their work….I’m not sure yet how much that has to do with copyright…because one can always transform, reconfigure.
remember what Duschamp did to Leonarda?….remember cathy acker’s books…and remember what lots of young mash-up photographers/musicians/artists do with imagery now…they use, without permission, to make new things…
so, my point is a simple one. Photographers must be ahead of the curve: think forwardly. How can photographers best benefit from the changing landscape of technology and law. To me, it begins with an old idea: art is about transformation, including transformation of the self. So, even if i keep my copyright (and i always do by the way :) ), there will be a time (now, for example) when the rights of that concept will disappear amid change. I mean, i already know blogs that have shown my work without contacting me, and i know someone (my son) who onced used one of my images without permission ;))..and i have photographed magazines and newspapers without asking…photographed movies for my own art (you’ll see next week) without asking the filmmakers permission to use their imagery…’cause i’m transforming and absorbing their work into my own to make it my own…and that will happen to our work too…and so be it…that’s life, that’s art….so, i gave up the fight, now instead i think elsewhere, how do i keep forward making things and creating relationships that will ensure that i have a livlihood….
but the world of book making, at least book writing, is still uncertain…there will be books sold that the writers receive no money from (happens now, when i write something and the magazine receives benefits), so in one sense it’s a losing proposition, unless we ourselves transform….
that being said, i think each photographer themselves must maintain the right to decide for themselves and to have control…even if that control is an illusion…I think and believe that David and Charles position is an understandable one…and I know that bill allard did not retain copyright for most of his life’s work, but i also thing that bills income and bill’s family future will still benefit from his life’s work, maybe just in ways that are not yet tangible….
it’s just that technology and new generation has eclipsed older thinking…and even if you retain rights, i am not sure they’ll be enforcible….that right hold is partly an illusion…i say that as a father who has a 15 year old son….by the time Charles’ beautiful daughter grows up, who knows we’re will be…..
ultimately: decide for yourself and support one another….in whatever way that works..
anyway….gotta run…this is for a chat over drinks
hugs
b
Charles :)))
i know kids who sell t-shirts already by downloading images, silkscreening and away they go and dont contact the photographer…and think for a moment about Che….imagine Guerrillero Heroico….how much did he retain or ever get…i see art students making these shirts…it’s just part of the landscape…and for me, it’s about the bigger picture…actually, no i personally wouldn’t get upset if people were profiting from my pics or my words (they do already, trust me) without reimbursing me…not because i dont want to be honored and paid for my work (i do) but because it’s a losing battle (i can tell u horror stories about china for example, having friends in the art world/photo world in Hong Kong and Beijing)….as a teacher who sees lots of stuff from taiwan, hk, beijing, and photographers would have heartattacks…
for me, it’s simpler: what is the way that i can retain artistic control over my work so that i can figure out how to use it to earn something…and to me, it’s a simpler equation: i cannot be worried about how others use the work, appropriate it, but how i can use it now and forward…
make sense?
ok, big hugs brother…about to watch into the wild again with Marina ))
hugs
bob
so called rights grabbing is extending to every aspect of our lives…
Okay, but I think where people are confused is about where you stand. Is the fact that rights grabbing is extending into every aspect of our lives — in your opinion — a good thing, a bad thing, or simply so inevitable that you don’t think we should worry our little minds over it?
Interesting point though about the soup can. There are no doubt some grey areas. Pictures of architecture are an example for me. So many are essentially detailed reproductions of someone else’s creative work. I’m not sure how much profit is made from those type of photos, and architecture tends to be in public view, but if I understand what you’re saying, you are probably right that there’s reason to fear (or rejoice, still not sure how you feel). If there’s profit to be had in doing away with the concept of public space, then I trust supreme courts the world over will soon be deciding in favor of corporations. The more interesting argument will be how they manage to decide that individuals can’t use any images while at the same time dictating that corporations can do whatever the hell they want.
Michael I never stated not to worry about it you have said that not me, what I am saying it is a big issue and full of a whole lot of problems. eg When I put some textbooks together there were people who wanted anywhere between US$1 and US$10 per image per book…….. the text sold for $14.95. So lots of compromises with content and learning have to be made, on the flip side some people said just use it.
…….. now back to the practical and interesting stuff, I am going to print screen stuff on burn along with http://www.economicswithaface.com/images/Mar05/ww1color2.jpg and http://www.webjet.com.au/
make an essay called “what the …..(being nice) happened to the aesthetic cannibal” and re post it on burn. Now if David chucks a wobbly (grin chuckle grin) I will post a link and become the first to be banned from burn?
now one for the sure footed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ScWu7pG7r0&feature=player_embedded
People are forever using my photos for things without my permission – as the subjects for paintings, scrimshaws, their facebook pages and, yes, on occassion, t-shirts, too. Mostly, Alaska Native artists and I just say, ‘oh, well, I would never have been able to do this stuff without the help and good will of the Native people, but I do like it when they actually ask permission and at least ackowledge my photograph along with their own signature.
I’m in Nantucket, where my Gift of the Whale show opened yesterday and I put on a slide show. It went well and was a great experience. Anyone who is curious can find it on my blog, shot, as usual, with my Canon Powershot s90 pocket camera.
On Thursday, April 1, I will present the same basic slide show at the Alaska House in New York and it would really thrill me if at least one “Burnian” were to show up and introduce her/himself.
The Nantucket show entry:
http://wasillaalaskaby300.squarespace.com/journal/2010/3/28/the-nantucket-whaling-museum-the-show-looks-good-my-presenta.html
i do understand the philosophy behind the orphan works bill, which is in line with imants views..
it is not a fresh argument within late modernism…
coleslaw being late modernism, though, it is good to know that carrots and cabbage and mayonaise have gone into it.. it’s the carrots moral right.
it is correct that some kind of development is overdue to free up the attitude towards creating within a context of other artworks.. yet it is not just about money in terms of copyright, as i think others have coverd well.
there has to be a protection for origional creators and an acknowldgement which does not actually only benefit them – acknowledgement also benefits those who desire to research and build .. move forward..
i’d personaly rather know about the guy who took the WW1 photo you are using than guffaw over the intellectual cleverness you display in using it.
a great deal of what i hear within late modernist music is derivative.. from the simple ‘funky drummer’ loop to the less known ‘amen break’ break (from which the entire drum and base scene grew).. the tracks which use the beats hold everything of the origional track.. same ol funky drummer vibe.. most of it is appropriated crap.. while some of it is enormously beneficial to developing music scenes.. as the amen break was to hip hop and drum n base.
drum and base is a valid evolution of music.. a textbook exercise in late or post-moderism.. yet who really wants to see the creators of the amen break living without, while those who snatched the sample go on to live with? including those who repackage and sell the break in digital tool packages for producers?
this is the amen break.. and an interesting talk by nate harrison..
and you know – any lover of hip hop or drum and base is bound to want to know more about ‘the winstons’ who, arguably, invented drum and base on the b side of a record in the late 60′s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac
it’s really easy to pick things apart as is being done with copyright – yet without the input of some solution it does come across as just a thrashing effort toward ‘hip’ e-anarchy.. and discussion faulters..
the art world is to complex to tie it up in copyright, yet it is also too fragile a life for artists that do not teach or write textbooks, to simply throw out all artist control.
attempts to abuse copyright laws to protect a shade of red are unlikely to be successfull.. yet if it all goes the other way in some reactionary fit, isn’t there a danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater with regards to our right to own our work?
I have worked with the copyright issue with various groups for some time unfortunately all that can be practically done at the moment is to secure personal copyright and that is a pretty poor solution big picture wise. The main problem with artists, photographers, etc is that if it doesn’t effect personally it is put on the back burner and let to fester ……the result is much as it has happened in the UK a 11th hour reaction http://copyrightaction.com/category/articles/news
With all the egos and the me me me situations it is no wonder artists, photographers are easy pickings for even a hack lawyer. Until that changes it is going to be a uphill battlee.
ps I will let your derogative personal attack pass …………
BOB,
It’s son, not daughter! :)
Anyway, the punk in me has no problem with kids silk screening t-shirts, bootlegging pics for 7″s etc etc but when it comes to a bona fide company using an image without permission to promote their product then it’s an entirely different ball game.
I find that sometimes those who don’t make their sole living from photography are more free and easy about the concept of just giving it away. For example iStock was started by a graphic designer with all of these socialist ideals about access to photography for everyone. He went on to sell out to Getty for millions, leaving a lot of photographers in the dust. And how about that amateur recently who sold a Newsweek cover for $25 (via iStock of course)? Try and support your family on that.
Anyway, DAH summed it up very succinctly and eloquently above (as usual) and Mr Bowen as well.
I’m outta here and will be away from the web for awhile preparing for some more ayahuasca ceremonies next weekend. Gotta clear the head best as can. Best to everyone.
CP
AMEN and hallelujah. The Amen Clip was awesome. The Winston’s didn’t care about the copyright. Corporations were looking to cash in. Corporations seek to use copyright to generate maximum profit as is their legal obligation. When corporations take control of our culture what lies ahead….. As an individual artist we should be honored and privileged to know that something we created could have such an enormous and ultimately positive impact. Whether we personally profit from this seems beside the point, although we all do need to make a living. I think we need to really look at who is benefiting the most from issues of copyright and decide if that worldview matches the one that we want to perpetuate.
Hip Hop for me has been an ongoing personal project so the AMEN break hits home. Without sampling and the creation of innovative forms of expression a whole often misunderstood marginalized sub-culture of America would not have been given voice, challenging the status quo, and demanding their rights; young black men in urban America. This voice and expression of an urban reality with all that comes with it provided a culture around which communities could gather to be themselves and to be recognized as members of their own society. Grandmaster Flash started his first jams in community center parks in the Bronx and attracted young and old and those of different ideologies into a melting-pot of ideas. Grandmaster Flash is considered the pioneer in the art of DJ’n and sampled heavily from James Brown. Hip-Hop has become a cultural and revolutionary movement in the black community, has empowered a disenfranchised generation, and has allowed some to reach out of the projects and create abundance. KRS-ONE a well recognized pioneer of Hip-Hop promoter of peaceful resolutions of inner-city conflict recently wrote a book “The Gospel of Hip Hop” published by Powerhouse which reaches back to the roots of Hip-Hop as a positive cultural phenomenom that as an end goal embodies self-respect for oneself and others and self-determination of a people. Hip-Hop as a cultural force now extends beyond the local communities were it started to an international movement across borders, nationalities and race. It isn’t a question of enjoying listening to Hip-Hop or if it is good/bad as a genre of music. It is not relevant to the broader implications of its existence which was given birth as a result of using unauthorized use of copyright and which encompasses a cultural experience beyond music.
Keep the Fire …keep the windows open…
ROSSY…I danced …along “the kids are alright”…
Opa,opa…do not copy my rights…copy only my lefts…
I LOVE YOU ALLL
P.S Fashion photographer Peter Gowland dies at 93…Spacecowboy change your outfit …:)))
Tell it like it is.
speaking of copyright…
u wont believe this…!!!????
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/03/28/photoshop-cs5-contentaware-awesomeness/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20TheNextWeb%20(The%20Next%20Web)
First time I don’t like an essay on magnum agency website. I don’t like Bruce Gilden’s haiti work
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3RTZUG5S
I don’t think The Rat Story aestethics fit to the people’s disaster.
Anyone will agree or dissagree with me?
12:59 pm in grecolalandia…
on a lighter note i wanna suggest everyone to break FREE…
Free of smoking…and other religions…
i have the proof here..in a science fiction new movie..
Without even having the new version of CS5 photoshop i created
two fictional characters thet going through virtual hell in search of cigarettes..
i copied their copyright and without asking them i exploited their personal moments
to create a fake documentary…
So i made a NEW MOVIE…
The day by day struggle journal continues…
The story is simple..
the PHILOSOPHER DIMITRI and my alter ego are out of tobacco…out of marlboros..
so plz enjoy their odyssey to the local tobacco store…
(rated R)..
now in a theater near you…
Music by Diafana Krina and other sampled and photoshoped in a unique HIP HOP way..
plz watch before YouTube finds out and blocks it..
big hug
“CIGARETTES BEFORE THE STORM”
Panos
Ha ha funny movie, no time to watch all your movies now but will chatch up all when be back at home.
Did you send essay for EPF?
PANOS! :)))))))
‘we fear no storm!’ ;))))))
i LOVE these goddamned movies….this one was hilarious…and so true…i remember those days of thinking, ‘i just need a smoke and the world will be right and good’ :))))…fortunately, kicked that habit, but replaced by other addictions…what’s a philosopher/photographer/writer/husband/dad to do?…
keep em coming…i love love these films….and by the way, from one philosopher to another (dmitri)., your boy got god damn beautiful eyes/face, i guess that’s what real philosophers are supposed to look like…
hugs from marina
running
b
P.S. CHARLES :))))…damn, am i getting old…sorry, your incredibly handsome son! :)))))…more later, maybe, about copyright…but just think of this: a big corporation might make 1,000,000′s, but let’s say 200,000,000 entreprenurial chinese teens, or indian teens, or indonesian, or brazilian or american/canadian , 20 and 30 years old each make 10,000/yr only from stolen copyrighted material, do the math…that’s what i mean, it’s a loosing battle and the demon aint the corporate monster, they’re slow and slow whitted and stupid…so, really,, this is a practical matter to me too, as a guy whose family DOES earn their money from art/writing…but, well…gotta run….shit to do before thursday….hugs
marcin..;) unfortunately i spent my last $25 on fine tobacco…
bob..;)
Panos,
The best way to spend the 25$ :)
frank – well said..
and the point is that krs, goldie et al were able to create new forms with copyright just as it was..
imants – i agree that the issue is hardly being discussed.. it wasn´t really being discussed even here at first as it is such a sensitive issue – which ever side of the fence you fall on.
11th hour decisions are coming across in the uk and us very badly – seeming ´sneaky´ for want of a better phrase..
and as charles says – those who´s sole income is from photography have much more to loose.. agreed that in time whatever will be will be, yet ego and bullishness on either side is not a constructive force..
what is? i don´t know.. i just enjoy what i do..
Marcin, what do you mean “The Rat Story aestethics”?
civi –
thanks for letting us know of the passing of Peter Gowland. How did you hear about it? Six more years and he would have made 100..this was a man who loved photography and cameras even in his later years – up early every morning to answer emails, still working to do repairs on his incredible custom designed Gowland cameras (http://www.petergowland.com/camera/index.html) and a great sense of humor. I own the 4X5 GOWLANDFLEX, which I used for soem of the dark light portraits. Thank you Peter…
this issue of Hip-Hop and sampling is a prime example, just as now music mashups, or before that russian avant-garde’s use of collage in the 20/30′s and an entire spectrum of cinematic tradition, not to mention the notion of story telling, involves the swallowing of others work, not as theft but as inspiration appropriate, the riff in a jazz movement, and hip-hop’s essential understanding that it’s all about story telling is critical to my personal understanding and development with regard to copyright…through in the fact that late tolstoy has been a critical point of thought for me (or at least some of his ideas, but surely not all, vis-a-vis his conservativism about what is art, for example which is frustrating) as well as an philosophical and spiritual understanding of what is the way to live properly and simply…
it seems, to me, that we must be concerned, or rather, should be concerned with simple matter, when it comes to the material and practical way to live. Since we need to earn money to live, and since there yes are some of us whose income is derived from our work, it is a critical issue, but for me there are more elemental issues. We, again i emphasize this point, must think forward, rather than resist inevitabilities, we must look forward. as a photographer/writer, who once publically faught with private and foto8 (i mistake i believe now) for getting photographers paid, i realize that the issue is not as straightforward. The ability to use work, the freedom of both exchange of ideas/information/work is critical to a reasoned life, and to the integrity of the live lived making something. I agree that folks stealing othes work for profit is a terribly depressing and disconcerting thing, but it’s part of the world (history) and this has been to some degree accelerated with social networking/www etc. I do worry about the group think mentality and the social network/viral/mashup behavior of the world/web now…as a writer and photographer it frightens me occassionally…but, i am not that, philosophically speaking, concerned about the ownership of my own work in perpetuity…i want to make work now and want to be able to control/decide how i use that now, but this doesn’t prevent others, even companies, from using work…anyone watch the Apple presentation for tablet?…u think all those photographers got paid or signed released for that presentation and money making deal….hell no….
clearly, for me, it’s important that each person think clearly about how it is they wish to deal with the shifting landscape of the web and content and collectivization…i mean didnt we all once make ‘best of’tapes…then burned cd’s, dvd’s, now make vids and presentations…i mean, shit, even here we’ve used music to accompany work shown here, at projections/festivals presentations…
the truth is that many get scared when they worry about their work, their $$, but rarely think when it comes to the use of others…and i guess, ultimately, that’s where i sit…about awareness….that while im not all that interested in the big love-in of the web as some discuss, an extended digital haight-ashbury/woodstock of free love and free ideals, but i do embrace the power of dissemination..and with that comes sacrifices and realizations….
so how to transcend all that….hip hop is absolutely one model (for me) of the key…it’s been corporatized for sure, and often exploited to an absurd degree, but within that there is still lots of space in which for rappers and producers and slams to not only work but to thrive…i do believe that photographers have this ability too….it’s why from the beginning i’ve been so postive and supportive and worked my ass off to help in my own small way David and Anton’s vision of Burn succeed….
there are ways out of this dark forest, but the path must be seen by vision and determination, not by looking back….
ok, gotta fly
hugs
bob
Michael,
I mean “the rat story” have very accurate aestethics for story about the west communities not about Haiti’s tragedy.
http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/rat
I am curious how do you see (or not see at all) this problem.
Bruce Gilden is great photographer but for me he wrote his own story about haiti. I am not sure I am able to say wht I mean exacly.
some days i think i should just photograph dogs and leave it at that.
Marcin, thanks. Don’t see much connection at a glance, but your question merits much more than a glance. Don’t have time right now, but will try give it more thought tonight. I, too, am interested in what I think you are talking about. Putting our personal stories on other people’s tragedies. Parachute journalism. Western pov where it doesn’t apply, or at least go deep enough. I very much like the narrative idea of the rat story. It’s a bit more sophisticated in a literary kinda way than the typical photo multimedia piece. Or do I even know what a typical photo multimeia piece is? I’ve seen quite a few but have no idea to what degree they are representative. I’d think the rat story strategy could work for something like the Haiti photos, but of course it would depend entirely on the story. Sometimes our own cultural context is all we’ve got. Doesn’t mean it can’t be enlightening.
P.S Fashion photographer Peter Gowland dies at 93…Spacecowboy change your outfit …:)))
emcd,civi
Gowland was an original. His glamour and nude work was classic un-pretentious cheescake, superbly executed.
I met him about 1985 when he gave a seminar to members of our photographers assoc here. A delightful man. He was also a tinkerer, besides those wonderful Golwlandflexs, (there was even an 8×10 model I believe), he made a pocket 4×5 camera that weighed only a couple of pounds.
Marcin
I have to agree with you.
http://www.petergowland.com/camera/
One more book to buy.. one day I’ll get broke:
Stephan Vanfleteren ‘Future Simple’
ALL:
On Saturday, May 15th, we will be teaming up with the New York Photo Festival for Slideluck Potshow XV. The projection will take place outdoors, in Dumbo, Brooklyn beneath the Manhattan Bridge Archway – an epic public space that just reopened after nearly 20 years. Naturally, the theme of the show will be Bridges. Keeping in the spirit of the Festival, we will be bringing in some of New York’s Finest to help curate the show: David Alan Harvey (National Geographic, Magnum, Burn,) Jae Choi (The Collective Shift,) and W.M. Hunt (Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, SVA.) Submissions will be accepted until April 15th, and information can be found here. And to truly localize the potluck dinner, we plan to incorporate members of Brooklyn’s lively culinary community and sustainable food movement.
http://network.slideluckpotshow.com/events/slps-xv-new-york-city
In the above, We is Slideluck
THE WHITE LINES…
In greece every easter there is another custom…
People paint everything (they can) white…
white lines..white homes..white fences..white this..white that…
Not only for cleansing (definitely not for beautification )..
but also to exorcise Evil and welcome Good…waiting for the resurrection..
in the MOVIE (link below), plz watch one more real story..
my own very personal Exorcism..I wasnt feeling good this morning…
Everything was spinning..and then the Priest found me..(didnt help either)..
Discover below how i manage to exorcise the bad spirit that had me down..
All captured in the movie below…My testimony..click: