Week 2 – Comment on Holly Loganbill’s Post about Fair Use

Holly wrote:

It never occurred to me that someone would take one of my photographs like the one above and use it or portions of it in a new creation of theirs. This whole topic of “fair use” is so simple and complex at the same time. The guiding principles are simple, three qualifications to determine fair use; yet the interpretations and nuances can become incredibly complex. I don’t know how I would feel if I saw all or some portion of something of mine being used by someone as part of their “original” work. My guess is that I wouldn’t feel very happy about it, particularly if they were profiting from it. I would probably contribute to the Creative Commons collection; I’ve benefited from the generosity of others throughout these courses on dozens of projects.

My response to Holly:

Hi Holly,

You are right, the nuances of fair use are numerous and far-reaching as much as they are ‘fair.’ I didn’t think much about this even as a long-time published photographer. However, about a year ago, I ran into a disturbing issue on a photography/social network site I belonged to called “Redbubble.com” regarding my work. It wasn’t the fault of the site, but apparently some person was going on that site and basically ‘cutting and copying’ a lot of different photographers’ work, including my own, and then pasting it into a new site under his/her own name! Needless to say, we were outraged. Many photographers from Redbubble were up in arms, and rightfully so, this so-called ‘photographer’ was stealing our work and renaming the prints and calling the pieces her own work, even going to the trouble to ‘make up’ shooting stories and scenarios of how he/she captured OUR photos! You just don’t think about what happens to your art work on the Internet until you see someone else taking credit for it, it makes you feel violated, like when someone breaks into your house and steals your computer with all your memories and pictures on it. I think there is a lot that needs to be done in the way of security and protection for those of us who post our work regularly online to get it ‘out there’ and ‘seen’ for purchase and whatever.

When it comes to fair use, I think there are honest people out there who will put the credit where the credit is due, but then there are also just as many who will steal your work blind and claim it for their own, which is very disturbing and definitely NOT fair! Thanks for your post!!