Blue Planet Photography

Well, not really a studio move, just yet. Technically, yes, because I’ve moved out of the studio space I’ve rented for the past 2 years back into my house. But, I don’t have the spaciousness I had, so my “studio” is limited until I can locate another space. Got the phone line and DSL transferred with one hitch being the technician who setup the new line at the house didn’t wire up the DSL properly, so I was offline for 2 days longer than I should have been, for a total of 4 days.

Then, when I booted up my systems one of my HDDs was corrupted. I’ll have to take it in for data recovery since nothing I’ve tried so far addresses the problem I seem to have, which I’m still researching. Looks like a virus but no viruses are being detected on my system. All the folders and filenames have become gibberish. The drive is recognized (it’s in a firewire external case with 2 bays), but the files are not readable. Had this happen once before several months ago with a drive in the same case that was my Ghost backup. I thought it was due to an issue with Ghost and moved the backup volume to an internally-connected drive and haven’t had any issues like that or similar since. The drive with this issue is not accessed or backed up by Ghost and is on a separate computer. Didn’t make for a happy day.

I moved out some other large items today, bookcases and some shelving. Monday (Memorial Day), Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent geting the rest of the stuff moved over. I’ve got about 3 times more gear than I started with and fitting it into the house has taken about 4 weeks both in organizing the homestead to accept it, and paring down the contents at both locations. It’s amazing what junk you amass thinking you’re going to use it at some point. Boxes for shipping or as sources of cardboard for shoring up or backing prints for shipping, bags of various sizes, hardware and equipment boxes (like you’ll ever get that stuff back in those boxes if you ever have to move), magazines and various papers printed from the computer that ended up hidden in a pile somewhere and never read again. Lots went to the recycle bin.

I’ll miss the space, for sure.

Here is information from the Illustrator’s Partnership regarding the current status of the Orphan Works legislation now before Congress.

Please read through this information, posted in its entirety, and continue to pressure your congressman and representatives to not support this bill. Other information links are found at the end of the text for you to become better informed.

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

Yesterday [5/26/06] the Orphan Works Act of 2006 [HR 5439] was marked up by the House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. It was approved by voice vote and sent to the full Judiciary Committee.

At the afternoon session, which was webcast live, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) praised the bill, but also expressed concern for the rights of illustrators and photographers. Then, last evening, Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) called another meeting which had not been publicly announced. At that meeting, the legislation was passed. The vote was “unrecorded” so there is no record of who voted for or against it (or in fact, who voted at all - only a quorum was present). Eyewitnesses report that the vote was unanimous.

The legislation will now go before the full committee for a vote. According to a reliable source, Chairman Smith expects the bill to be marked up by the full Committee at the first mark-up session after Memorial Day recess.

This bill will expose our past and future copyrights by legalizing infringement immediately upon creation. We’ll send you more information about it in the next few days, but we believe this is the time for artists to mobilize again. We’ll notify you shortly where to send your letters. Thank you for your continued support.

For additional information about Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists or see IPA Forums: “Free Culture-The Copy Left Is Not Right.”

You may post responses or ask questions on these forums. First-time users will be asked to register.
You do not need to be an IPA member to use the IPA public Town Hall Forums.

Please post or forward this email in its entirety to any interested
party.

Additional Sources of Information regarding Orphan Works:

U.S. Copyright Office

American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) extensive outline and updated information specifically regarding photographers.

www.editorialphoto.com

The Law Library Exclusive
Excerpt from llrx.com:

“Certainly one of the motivations behind this sustained drive to do away with the formalities was the desire to align U.S. copyright law with the requirements of the Berne Convention. Many constituencies were pushing for the U.S. to finally join this system so as to give U.S. citizens greater protection in the increasingly global market for intellectual property.

And so what we are left with at present is a system where protection arises automatically, without even any thought about whether the creator desires to have copyright protection. Click a picture on your digital camera, and you have a copyright-protected work. Dash out a rambling thought on your blog, and you’ve got protection at that very moment. Couple this with the steadily increased term of copyright protection, and a very serious blow has been struck to the availability of freely available public domain works.

The problem of “orphan works” is not, however, solely the result of changes in copyright law. Even if the original copyright owner is known to the permission seeker, the passage of time, death, business insolvency, etc. may result in great difficulty in finding the copyright owner. A willing permission seeker thus may know who held the original rights in the work, but as a practical matter cannot locate this individual or company. In reality, this can be as great of a barrier as the situation where the creator of the work was never known.

“[The] approach mentioned by the Copyright Office would encourage the use of orphan works by lessening the potential penalties if the copyright owner did later emerge and object to the use. For example, if the user can show that reasonable efforts were taken to locate the copyright owner prior to the use, damages from any infringement action would then be limited to a reasonable royalty fee (without the threat of other remedies available under current copyright law). This approach would limit the exposure of a user of an orphan work, but still preserve the copyright owner’s legal right to enforce protection.

Footnote from Howard Paul (Editorial Photographers):
Members of the House Judciary Committee are:

Republican
Hon. Hyde
(R) Illinois, 6th

Hon. Coble
(R) North Carolina, 6th

Hon. Smith
(R) Texas, 21st

Hon. Gallegly
(R) California, 24th

Hon. Goodlatte
(R) Virginia, 6th

Hon. Chabot
(R) Ohio, 1st

Hon. Lungren
(R) California, 3rd

Hon. Jenkins
(R) Tennessee, 1st

Hon. Cannon
(R) Utah, 3rd

Hon. Bachus
(R) Alabama, 6th

Hon. Inglis
(R) South Carolina, 4th

Hon. Hostettler
(R) Indiana, 8th

Hon. Green
(R) Wisconsin, 8th

Hon. Keller
(R) Florida, 8th

Hon. Issa
(R) California, 49th

Hon. Flake
(R) Arizona, 6th

Hon. Pence
(R) Indiana, 6th

Hon. Forbes
(R) Virginia, 4th

Hon. King
(R) Iowa, 5th

Hon. Feeney
(R) Florida, 24th

Hon. Franks
(R) Arizona, 2nd

Hon. Gohmert
(R) Texas, 1st

Democrat
Hon. Berman
(D) California, 28th

Hon. Boucher
(D) Virginia, 9th

Hon. Nadler
(D) New York, 8th

Hon. Scott
(D) Virginia, 3rd

Hon. Watt
(D) North Carolina, 12th

Hon. Lofgren
(D) California, 16th

Hon. Jackson Lee
(D) Texas, 18th

Hon. Waters
(D) California, 35th

Hon. Meehan
(D) Massachusetts, 5th

Hon. Delahunt
(D) Massachusetts, 10th

Hon. Wexler
(D) Florida, 19th

Hon. Weiner
(D) New York, 9th

Hon. Schiff
(D) California, 29th

Hon. Sánchez
(D) California, 39th

Hon. Van Hollen
(D) Maryland, 8th

Hon. Wasserman Schultz
(D) Florida, 20th

This week’s website of the week is Luminous-landscape.com, but more specifically, an article by Alain Briot called Being an Artist in Business.

Some of us photographers, whether working in stock, commercial, portraiture, or events, or whatever, think about, or are making attempts, to create and sell fine art prints. Others are going directly for the fine art market. Being an Artist (which is another of Alain’s articles found Here) is different than Being an Artist in Business, which means you’re attempting or wanting to make a living at being an artist.

Alain tells his story of becoming an Artist in Business, which is a good way to get the point across that it’s not just about shooting pictures. Getting his start in the early days of digital, Alain provides some insights, if you don’t already know, about the many cons of the digital process and getting your work seen (and purchased!). Most of us trying to be Artists in Business, can relate to many of the issues he has gone through, but will also find the article interesting as well as informative.

Enjoy.

Come down to Mosaic Essential, 1021 Main St, from 5pm - 9pm June 1 (First Thursday) in Boise for “Best Dressed Breasts”, a benefit for breast cancer awareness. Bid on an art piece, proceeds going to local breast cancer organizations. Artworks following the “breast” theme will be available for silent auction ending June 3.

My piece “Untitled” will be one of the pieces up for auction. It is a 16″x24″ archival giclee print on semi-matte, matted and framed to approximately 20″x28″, signed and dated.

I’ve touted the products from Visible Dust (www.visibledust.com) and they’ve come out with new products and updates to their Arctic Butterfly motorized, self-charging sensor brush. Swabs and liquid cleaner also are added to their new line up. See a review also at Luminous Landscape

The U.S Senate voted today to increase fines for indecency in the media. The fine per infraction has been raised to a maximum of $325,000 which is TEN TIMES the previous maximum. This fine is applied not to the single “incident” but to every instance as it is broadcast. So, say 100 television stations broadcast something that some folks feel is indecent of offends them. Each station receives the fine, not the network.

It’s not just television and radio that is affected by what’s been going on the past 2 - 3 years (or longer). Those are only two media outlets that are receiving the bulk of attention. What about magazines, newspapers? When does this begin to spill over into art galleries and theaters and books? What about the internet and personal or business web sites? If someone comes to my website or my blog and reads or sees something they think is objectionable, will I eventually be faced with the possibility of a fine?

As a photographer, if a photograph of mine is used in a magazine to illustrate an editorial article about strip clubs and the image used causes some folks to complain and the magazine is fined am I also liable as the person who created the photograph? Is it possible I (or others) could be in the future and expect to pay all or a portion of some multi-million dollar fine? Imagine a magazine article going out to 250,000 or more readers. Even a fine of $1 per instance (250,000) would put most individuals out of business, if the structure of the fine was consistent with how it is applied to radio and television.

Here’s the scary part:

“In areas of programming content, we believe responsible self-regulation by all media companies is preferable to government regulation,” National Association of Broadcasters’ Dennis Wharton told the Los Angeles Times.

When the media is “self-regulated” by huge global telecoms that control the majority of informational content you and I receive on TV, radio, in newspapers, magazines, and on the internet, do you think that “self-regulation” will be objective despite the rally against ultra-conservative government oversight?

“It’s time that broadcast indecency fines represent a real economic penalty and not just a slap on the wrist,” Kansas’ Republican Senator Sam Brownback, the bill’s sponsor, said.

And how come all this righteous crusading for decency has suddenly become the “thing to do” when there are more important fish to fry? Speaking of fish, how come there isn’t such an outcry for “real economic penalty” for corporations (some publicly traded) that are doing more harm to the environment (locally, regionally, globally, to both private and public areas) than any television or radio program will ever do to the moral fiber of our citizens?

Here’s a Photoshop blog with current news and updates not just for Photoshop, but other image applications and some industry news. It’s PhotoshopNews.com.

Stamps.com has announced that you can now create and order customized, valid, U.S. Postage stamps with your own photos by using Adobe Photoshop CS2, Elements 4.0 and Album Starter Edition. www.photo.stamps.com is the website you can go to and also upload images created using other application software and an online template.

Using the Adobe products, you select the photo you wnat to use, select one of 10 border colors, select the postage value ($0.39 to $4.99) then place your order. Minimum order is 1 sheet (20 stamps). A sheet of 20 $0.39 stamps will cost you $17.99, approximately $0.90 each instead of the normal $0.39, but for small runs to send promotional materials or special correspondence, it adds a special touch. There is a discount for multiple sheet orders.

I’m submitting this image for a breast cancer awareness auction event next month here in Boise. It will be held at Mosaic Essential, 1021 Main St, on June 1, 5pm - 9pm. The image size is 16×24.

Also, I’m looking for models interested in working with me to create fine art nudes. If you’re in the Boise area or are going to be in this area, please Contact me if you’d like to collaborate. I generally trade prints for time. More examples can be found Here.

Like others, probably, I spend some time browsing the web looking for interesting and captivating photography sites. I’m going to try and feature one of my favorite “found” sites of the week each Thursday.

Today’s website features Misha Gordon, a traditional darkroom composite image printer, ala the perhaps better known Jerry Uelsmann.

Born in Soviet Russia and starting to photograph at age 19, Misha Gordon moved to the USA in 1974. On manipulating images, Misha says in his statement:

“It is not a new idea to manipulate photographic images. As a matter of fact all images are manipulated to a certain degree. The real power of photography emerges when altered reality is presented as existent and is expected to be perceived as such. An obviously manipulated image is a trick that shows a lack of understanding of the unique power of photography - the belief engraved in our subconscious that what was captured by the camera has to exist. In the best examples of successfully manipulated images the question “Is it real?” does not arise.”

Check out his website, you’re in for a treat.