Free Photography
How many photos have been sent to you from a friend that you couldn’t resist passing on to someone else? Perhaps a picture captured something funny, or seemed to be the right image at the right time to express a feeling. Perhaps it was a memorialization of a happy or tragic event that occurred in your community, and by posting that photograph you felt you were sharing in that moment.
That image
could have been sent a thousand or a million times. It happens to music, videos
and photographs that go viral, circling the electronic earth many times over. The
person who created that work may or may not be thrilled that other people liked
it enough to want to share it. It depends on why the person created what you
are listening to or looking at. It may simply have been a desire to share that
put it up on the web, or it might have been placed there as a way to make a
living. In any case, once it is uploaded, many people feel that it becomes fair
game to do with it what they like.
The Web has
changed the way we perceive creative content, and how we view its ownership and
its usage. I am using the term “creative content” to describe anything that is
a unique creation: a drawing, photograph, video, piece of music, etc. Whatever
the end product, the issue is that someone exerted time and energy to make it.
As a person who makes their living in the creative world, I have to say that
it’s not an easy task. I enjoy it when people respond to my work, and I also
enjoy it when I’m paid for my work.
Everyone has
different reasons why they create something and then post it online. In the
analog days, those reasons were more transparent. There was a formality to having
work in a gallery, to having a film or play in a theater, to having your writing
published. These formal acts came with legal protections. If you copied one of
the analog creations, by way of the © insignia, you knew you were stealing
someone’s work. Those rights insured people’s ability to support themselves through
their creative acts. And by default turned those creative acts into a strange
consumable, something someone paid to use but ultimately didn’t own.
Although the
same copyright laws protect digital media, it is much more difficult to keep
people from owning and using protected creations. How do you send a cease and
desist letter to a million people? By creating the Web, which is a free and
open marketplace, we have knocked loose the protections for the people who make
creative content. The Web has placed the non-corporate creator in the difficult
position of wanting to make something, get it in a much more egalitarian
market, but then lose complete control over their labors.
Should the
concept of copyright be allowed to slip away? Has the Internet forever changed
the rules of ownership? Has it turned the marketplace of ideas into a swap meet
of pilfered goods?
Tell me what you think.
Frame 5A
Addendum:
The Photographs
coming out of my avatar’s computer are all from the web site Stockvault.net. Starting from the computer to the wall: Surprised Boy by 2happy; Angel
by Didi Surpardi; Clown by Rander
Pederson; Cute Devil by Julia
Osypova.
I believe that the copyright laws on creative art should never be taken away. There are so many ways as artists that we can protect our work from thieves, and a way to make sure that nobody takes the credit for what someone else has done. Although you cannot stop the copyright laws that are already in place that says you only have to change about a quarter of another persons artwork to make it your own, so you can build off an original, but can't just steal someone else's work and say it yours. The internet plays a huge role is the stealing of other artwork, but in the future the internet could be changed for the better, and copyright laws could get stronger, but for now it is up to the artist to be cautious where he or she puts their artwork on the internet. But I would have to agree that what should have been a bucket of inspiration, has started to turn into a thieving pot.
ReplyDeleteErik Larson
I think this is a tough argument to make. There are so many artists in the world that have become famous via the internet, but at what cost are they willing to do this? The issue of copyright infringement will always be at war with people in the creative world. When only a minimal amount of the said item has to be changed to be considered another work of art seems to be absolutely ridiculous to me. If I were to create something and put it on the internet and a few days later see people taking my original artwork and tweaking it I would be livid, but at the same time I would have this sense of being flattered that people liked my stuff enough to do that. Its a double-edged sword, and either side comes with negative and/or positive repercussions. In the end the only person that can make the tough decision is the artist.
ReplyDeleteHailey Stone
Wow! Great post it really gets you thinking about what you want out there "unprotected" for others to grab inspiration from or steal direct elements. Erik has a great point of how the internet " should have been a bucket of inspiration". I could not agree more I do a ton of research online when I get a new client, that influences what I create greatly. But it is also true the internet "has started to turn into a thieving pot." There is no better example of this then in music and everyone file "sharing". Sampling or stealing entire songs and the artist see no profit. So as a result I agree with Hailey's statement, "Its a double-edged sword, and either side comes with negative and/or positive repercussions. In the end the only person that can make the tough decision is the artist." My best advice as a graphic design is always place a watermark if possible and never upload anything past 72 dpi :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the 3 of you. Danielle has some good advice, which is to make the image large enough to be seen, but small enough to be difficult to be used outside of the web. Watermarking will also help, but like anything we own, if someone wants it bad enough they will take it and do with it what they will.
ReplyDeleteIf you do truly believe in the protection of your work, then you have to play fair with the work of others as well. This can be a really difficult commitment to make, that means no more down loading music or movies you didn't pay for, which seems to be the most common violations. It is interesting that the web has engendered this feeling that everything on it should be up for grabs. I wonder if there have been any studies on this, anyone know of any?