| I can come up with a million reasons,
but what it boils down to are three factors. One is copyright,
second putting my work out there for you to enjoy, and finally
my ego. |
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Copyright
A few years ago I wanted to put together a video of my
experiences here in China, along with some archival footage that
I was sure I could find at the
Library of Congress web site or any number of different
places. What I found was very much the opposite and after
further research I found much of what I wanted was expensive and
restrictive. I visited
Getty Images web site and did a search for what I wanted.
The restrictions Getty Images imposed were based on what the
footage was going to be used for, where, how and who was going
to use it. I was astounded by the expense. Doing further
research I then found that the cost of making a documentary can
easily cost a few million dollars, based on a large part the
expense of acquiring images and footage. |
A few examples, I did a quick search of the Getty site for a
royalty free photo of a 175 year old pen and ink drawing of the
size that I am giving away here. The cost was $105. An image of
Joe Montana, circa 1989 to be placed in a film is $150. The
iconic image of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, for 6
month advertising display use is $810. Of course it is easy to
understand why copyrights exist, but on the other hand it has
resulted in a serious damper on free expression. How many
documentaries end up being only a dream because of lack of
funding? Books that are written but can't get published because
the author lacks the thousands of dollars to secure the images.
Or that short little clip from the Korean war I wanted to use
that cost over $1,000. |
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Images
When I learned photography it was the old fashion way.
Take the photo, develop the film or take it to the corner drug
store, make a contact print, then enlarge the ones I liked. If
I worked really fast I could get all that done in a few hours,
or more then likely a few days. Then I'd either have to go
through my notes to figure out what I did wrong (or right) or
try to remember. Today from clicking the shutter to seeing the
image is almost instantaneous. Along with powerful software
that takes the drudgery out of hours of darkroom work reduced
down to a few minutes. The learning curve to understanding the
nuances of correct exposure, proper development of the image and
what makes a good photo has been reduced also to a fraction of
what it was before. This has caused an explosion of
professional photographers, fantastic images on the net,
advertising, books and videos. |
For me, it's not about money, in part because it takes a lot of
work to market photos, that is something I don't care to do. So
if one of my images graces the label on a soup can, so be it.
Or someone takes all my images and puts them in a coffee table
book and makes $100,000 without offering me a cent, so be it.
It's about the love of photography and a lot less to do with
money. Though if someone or a business or organization does so
for profit, it would be nice if they could push a few of that in
my direction.
With that in mind, the cost of hosting this web site is
negligible. The time involved is the largest factor, yet even
then it's about getting my images out there. If you'd like to
donate a few bucks, contact me.
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Ego
Sometimes it is too big for my head but most of the
time it's a byproduct of my age, wisdom, knowledge and
abilities. I'm certainly not a great photographer, but I do
believe my images are worth enjoying and in some cases very
good, other times disturbing. All told, I'm doing this for my
own self gratification and your enjoyment.
Life is so simple
But we insist on making it complicated
Confucius
551-479 BCE |
Email Me |
A Story
I was viewing a display in an art gallery in Palo Alto,
California, most of which was black and white photography. All
the photos were very good, although done by photographers I've
never heard of. In the back of the gallery there was a very
small image with a single spot light on it. It was non
descript, nothing worth paying attention too, that is till I
took a closer look. While I had never seen the image before and
the label below the photo simply said, "not for sale" with no
name tag, it was an unmistakable
Edward Weston
masterpiece. To me, he eclipsed the most famous master,
Ansel Adams, and all of
the lesser known's, such as
Paul
Strand, Imogen
Cunningham, and many others. Edward Weston had a subtleness
to his photos that few photographers possess, an ability I wish
I had. His collection of perfect photos numbers in the
hundreds. I am still striving for my first one.
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