Debates In Photography?

[amolitor]

The thing that's really working away in my mind now is the problem of the Giant River of Digital Images.

We're seeing millions of photographs being made and shared on a more or less daily basis. I don't know if it's a million a minute of a million a week, but that hardly matters. There's a simply mind boggling amount of imagery being produced and shoveled out to the web minute by minute. What are the implications of this limitless river of amateurish snapshottery for:

- commercial work. We're swimming in a huge sea of specific types of imagery. That's got to affect how we view photographs in general, which impacts commercial work
- art. Will art pick up ideas and themes from the river? If so, which ones?
- personal work. How are the various things at play in this immense stream of imagery bouncing around and affecting the other iPhone users shooting and putting things into it?
- etc..

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

Photographers who resist change as in:

1. Black and white vs colour
2. Film vs digital
3. Manual vs Auto
4. in camera vs post processing
5. tripod vs handheld
6. filters pre and post vs no filters
7. megapixel improvements?
8. crop body vs full frame

skieur

lol...yes, keep on beating that dead horse.

Funny, I think maybe the OP was playing a little trick on us. Perhaps this wasn't about his own paper, but to see what all of us would write about. Like all our replies are just mirrors of ourselves.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I was just reading this article the other day and I never knew about the original story but you could focus more on the psychosocial/copyright issues and how social media plays a role. I quess the story started when a certain photograher started a photography business and was just never really moving upward so she starting using everybody elses images (she had a Facebook page and website) and putting her logo on them until one day she got caught and her world was turned upside down real quick. She got bombarded with death threats and the whole nine yards, but anyways this article is the aftermath and her asking for forgiveness. I found it rather interesting. HOW I RUINED MY CAREER | People of the Second Chance

Just wow, thats more horrific than stories i read of people shooting "on the side" and the IRS/states catching up to them!

 

[kathyt]

I was just reading this article the other day and I never knew about the original story but you could focus more on the psychosocial/copyright issues and how social media plays a role. I quess the story started when a certain photograher started a photography business and was just never really moving upward so she starting using everybody elses images (she had a Facebook page and website) and putting her logo on them until one day she got caught and her world was turned upside down real quick. She got bombarded with death threats and the whole nine yards, but anyways this article is the aftermath and her asking for forgiveness. I found it rather interesting. HOW I RUINED MY CAREER | People of the Second Chance

Just wow, thats more horrific than stories i read of people shooting "on the side" and the IRS/states catching up to them!

Kinda crazy huh? Would you forgive?

 

[gsgary]

What about convergence » Convergence | Clive Booth

 

[PlanetStarbucks]

I was just reading this article the other day and I never knew about the original story but you could focus more on the psychosocial/copyright issues and how social media plays a role. I quess the story started when a certain photograher started a photography business and was just never really moving upward so she starting using everybody elses images (she had a Facebook page and website) and putting her logo on them until one day she got caught and her world was turned upside down real quick. She got bombarded with death threats and the whole nine yards, but anyways this article is the aftermath and her asking for forgiveness. I found it rather interesting. HOW I RUINED MY CAREER | People of the Second Chance

Just wow, thats more horrific than stories i read of people shooting "on the side" and the IRS/states catching up to them!

Kinda crazy huh? Would you forgive?

Nope...That anyone would take such shortcuts is a testament to their lack of character. It's a sort of ends-justifies-the-means personality. People of that character are always annoying, but sometimes dangerous. In my profession (finance) nothing would earn you a walk out the door faster then taking shortcuts. Certainly stealing photographs isn't in the same realm, but it's the same behavior. For notable examples in my world see Nick Leeson (destroyed Barings Bank) and Fabrice Tourre (partly responsible for a $500 million dollar fine levied against Goldman Sachs).

 

[unpopular]

[FONT=MuliLight, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I’ve always embraced my [/FONT]artistic side[FONT=MuliLight, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif], and from the moment I first picked up a camera, I was hooked. I started a full time [/FONT]professional photography[FONT=MuliLight, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] business in April 2011

Well there's her problem.
[/FONT]

 

[kathyt]

Just wow, thats more horrific than stories i read of people shooting "on the side" and the IRS/states catching up to them!

Kinda crazy huh? Would you forgive?

Nope...That anyone would take such shortcuts is a testament to their lack of character. It's a sort of ends-justifies-the-means personality. People of that character are always annoying, but sometimes dangerous. In my profession (finance) nothing would earn you a walk out the door faster then taking shortcuts. Certainly stealing photographs isn't in the same realm, but it's the same behavior. For notable examples in my world see Nick Leeson (destroyed Barings Bank) and Fabrice Tourre (partly responsible for a $500 million dollar fine levied against Goldman Sachs).

I can see both sides of the coin. Obviously, the cases you mentioned had a larger trickle down effect than this story did and also larger financial repercussions, but I feel that I would have the hardest time forgiving myself in this case. No one will truly trust her again. She will find it hard to ever gain employment with all the social media attention this recieved. If anyone Googles her name they will learn all about this. She has paid a pretty stiff price and will continue to pay. If they were my images I would be over it by now and I would forgive her because honestly it takes more energy and anger to hold a grudge.

 

[Ballistics]

I was just reading this article the other day and I never knew about the original story but you could focus more on the psychosocial/copyright issues and how social media plays a role. I quess the story started when a certain photograher started a photography business and was just never really moving upward so she starting using everybody elses images (she had a Facebook page and website) and putting her logo on them until one day she got caught and her world was turned upside down real quick. She got bombarded with death threats and the whole nine yards, but anyways this article is the aftermath and her asking for forgiveness. I found it rather interesting. HOW I RUINED MY CAREER | People of the Second Chance

Just wow, thats more horrific than stories i read of people shooting "on the side" and the IRS/states catching up to them!

Kinda crazy huh? Would you forgive?

Not a chance in hell. Forgiving her is almost equivalent to saying that if you had a photography business, you would let her shoot for you after what she did. I know there are people who forgive, but she didn't just take credit for other's work. She built a business off of it. She went the full mile, got caught, and is now posting more BS for people to buy. Of course she's sorry. She doesn't have a choice. Reading the comments on that article, it boggles my mind how easy people are persuaded into forgiveness. "Oh well she said she was sorry and owned up to it". No, she got caught, and is now trying to play "the game" and people are falling for it.

 

[unpopular]

If she stole my images, I'd be flattered ... all the way to the judge seeking at least an injunction if not damages.

If it's someone else's photo? That's their call.

What she did was wrong, but come on, let's get off our high horse here.

 

[snowbear]

If she stole my images, I'd be flattered ... all the way to the judge seeking at least an injunction if not damages.

If it's someone else's photo? That's their call.

What she did was wrong, but come on, let's get off our high horse here.

Yep - theft, plain and simple. She may as well have stollen cash - it's the same thing.

 

[Ballistics]

If she stole my images, I'd be flattered ... all the way to the judge seeking at least an injunction if not damages.

If it's someone else's photo? That's their call.

What she did was wrong, but come on, let's get off our high horse here.

High horse? That doesn't even make sense lol. That phrase is usually reserved for elitism or arrogance, not talking about someone who fraudulently built a business by both stealing and by cheating customers. Sorry but, I don't have a bleeding heart for those who consciously scam and swindle.

I've been cheated before,burned for $19k when I was younger. I would never do that to anyone.
More recently and a bit more on topic, my wife and I hired a photographer for our wedding. He was a vendor that my wife found, had a great portfolio and website, showed up to the wedding, took pictures. When we got our sample disc in the mail, it was horrendous. All shots on auto. When we called to complain, the company had already closed up shop. We paid $2k for him (not including prints and albums), and while that's not a lot in terms of a wedding photographer, it is still $2k that we lost to someone like this girl. So no, this isn't about being on a high horse, this is about not having any compassion for thieves.

 

[unpopular]

as if none of us have ever done anything less than ethical.

what's "more wrong" than anything else is based solely on what we're not willing to do ourselves.

 

[amolitor]

If she stole my images, I'd be flattered ... all the way to the judge seeking at least an injunction if not damages.

If it's someone else's photo? That's their call.

What she did was wrong, but come on, let's get off our high horse here.

High horse? That doesn't even make sense lol. That phrase is usually reserved for elitism or arrogance, not talking about someone who fraudulently built a business by both stealing and by cheating customers.

The thief isn't the one on the high horse. "lol"

 

[Ballistics]

If she stole my images, I'd be flattered ... all the way to the judge seeking at least an injunction if not damages.

If it's someone else's photo? That's their call.

What she did was wrong, but come on, let's get off our high horse here.

High horse? That doesn't even make sense lol. That phrase is usually reserved for elitism or arrogance, not talking about someone who fraudulently built a business by both stealing and by cheating customers.

The thief isn't the one on the high horse. "lol"

I didn't say that. I'm talking about myself. I'm the person talking about someone who was fraudulent. To make it more clear what I was saying:

That phrase is usually reserved for elitism or arrogance, not (a person) talking about someone who fraudulently built a business by both stealing and by cheating customers.

You should have gotten that from the bottom line.

So no, this isn't about being on a high horse, this is about not having any compassion for thieves.