Planet mezZ

Everyone loves to make photos and we all do it for different and various reasons.

One thing we all have in common however, is that we love to show off our photos.

Displaying them on the web is fun, but nothing is better than a real print – matted and framed – on display someplace, or seeing our masterpiece in a calendar or magazine.

So when we have an opportunity to get our photos in the public eye by entering a contest or an exhibit many of us jump at it.

We’ve all make submissions without ever reading the entry rules, and I used to do the same thing. But take a few minutes to actually read them and you may be surprised.

In many photo contests, you are agreeing that others may use your photos on their site and anywhere else they see fit without payment to you – even if your entry does not win.

Look for the section that talks about who holds the copyright – many entry rules specify that you forfeit all rights to your photos. That means you can no longer sell it or use it for other projects – essentially it's not your photo anymore.  

Here is just one example from Smithsonian.com:

By entering the contest, entrants grant Smithsonian Institution a royalty-free, world-wide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to display, distribute, reproduce, and create derivative works of the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or subsequently developed, for any Smithsonian Institution purpose, including, but not limited to advertising and promotion of the magazine and its Web site, exhibition, and commercial products, including but not limited to Smithsonian Institution publications. Photographs may appear on the Smithsonian Journeys Web site as well as in Journeyspublications. Any photograph reproduced will include a photographer credit. The Smithsonian Institution will not be required to pay any additional consideration or seek any additional approval in connection with such uses."

Our local newspaper asks for entries of local photos for their yearly calendar, yet they have not displayed any entries rules. At one point (in 2008) I emailed them and asked and they replied:
 

" The calendars aren't sold, but there is paid advertising on each page.  Profit from the advertising goes to the Observer-Dispatch.  There are no plans at this point to use the photos in anything other than the calendar, but the Observer-Dispatch reserves the rights to use the photos in future promotional materials.." 

"Before any images will be published in the calendar, we will require signed permission to use the image without any financial compensation to the owner of the photograph . At that time, the owner can decide whether or not to let us use the photograph."

Let’s think about this. If they choose your photo they make a profit from your work, provide no financial  compensation and may use our photos for future promotional materials. I wonder what happens to the photos not chosen for the calendar – they did not specify and I didn’t ask, I just didn’t enter.

In my opinion – something is wrong, as is the with the Smithsonian rules, and many other “contests.” 

I was guilty myself by not reading the rules when I submitted a photo to National Geographic. I read entry rules now and cringe ..

By entering the Contest, all entrants grant an irrevocable perpetual non-exclusive license to Authorized Parties, to reproduce, distribute, display and create derivative works of the entries (along with a name credit) in connection with the Contest and promotion of the Contest, in any media now or hereafter known…”

Well, at least the National Geographic winner gets a $5700 camera. But, even if you don’t win, you still are granting others to use your work for profit – of which you get no compensation.

Carolyn E. Wright (an attorney) has a really interesting blog and often dissects and comments on photo contest entry rules. It’s fun and educational to follow.

I am not suggesting a boycott of all contests, but I am suggestion that you read the entry rules and be sure you are okay with them. Obviously many of these “contests” are merely ploys to harvest photos without paying the photographers. 

Closing on a positive note, we are lucky enough in Utica, NY to have a many contests and exhibitions that give us a chance to display our work without the concerns cited above.

Munson Williams, Danella’s Photography Weekend in Central New York (my favorite) and the Herkimer County Community College/Utica Camera Club exhibit come to mind. I am sure their may be other projects and exhibitions that exist for the love of photography and not for the exploitation of our hard work.

Related links

• Nat Geo Contest Rules
• Smithsonian Rules
• Danella’s Weekend in Central New York
• Guy Danella’s Blog
• Carolyn Wright’s Blog

Photography Cameras, Contests, Photography, Photos

Much has been written about Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, but once you hear him speak in his own voice, study his photos, and watch his story, there is no turning back.

I sometimes wonder if he would ever have imagined that so many people would remember him today. 

Weegee was a freelance nocturnal photographer covering Manhattan police headquarters from 1920 to the 1960s.  Weegee has an amazing history.  Most of the time he would shoot murders, fires, and accidents — but somehow they are artistic — and he liked to capture the dark side of human nature. 

Weegee was often able to arrive at crime scenes before the police and had a dark room built into the trunk of his 1938 police radio equipped Chevrolet. He was not only able to capture the emotion of the moment, but he was able to get the photos to the newspapers in record time.

Basically self taught, Weegee only used a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera preset at f/16, 1/1500 of a second with flashbulbs and a set focus distance of ten feet but was able to capture many amazing moments on film. 

Weegee fans should see the film The Naked City. The visual style of which was inspired by Weegee.

In the forward of Weegee's book, also titled The Naked City, William McCleery describes Weegee perfectly..

"He will take his camera and ride off in search of new evidence that his city, even in her most drunken and disorderly and pathetic moments, is beautiful."

                                                                           -William McCleery

Even better is the film The Public Eye. You won't hear Weegee's name in it because the producers were unable to secure the rights to Weegee's story. Subsequently the director/writer Howard Franklin invented a character named Bernzini played by Joe Pesci.

Make no mistake, however.  The Public Eye is really a character study loosely based on Weegee, and Joe Pesci plays the part beautifully.  It's a must see for anyone even remotely interested in photojournalism, as are the many books that publish Weegee's work. 

When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.”
                                                             
                                                                         – Weegee"

In the videos below, you can hear Weegee talk about photojournalism in his own voice (you will hear how mesmerizing that is), watch a clip from the film The Public Eye, and watch a tribute to Weegee with a gallery of his most loved photos.

Today the International Center for Photography in New York City has 20,000 of Weegee's photos. They were last exhibited there in 2006. You can often buy Weegee's photos on web auctions for only a few thousand dollars each — if he only knew.

Weegee was born June 12, 1899.  Today, June 12, 2010, I am once again watching the film The Public Eye as my own tribute to Weegee.

I hope you all enjoy Weegee's work as much as I do.

Happy Birthday, Weegee.  Thanks for taking me back in time.

(Arthur Fellig June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968)

Suggested Links

• A Video Tribute to Weegee
• Weegee’s own Voice
• A Clip from the film The Public Eye
• about The Naked City
• Photo Album from ICP
• 1945 Radio Interview WEAF NYC
• Radio Interview with Weegee (Transcript)
• Interesting Weegee Blog
• Crime was Weegees Oyster (NY Times)

Photography Photojournalism, Weegee

It appears that websites like PicPoke  get to use my photos without my permission. They just take them from my Picasa Web Album page.  It’s not because they like  them, it’s because they get to pair them with an advertisement. Jeeezzz guys – at least give me a cut of the revenue, a by-line, or how about getting permission to use other people’s work?

I guess Google does the same thing (kind of), but for some reason – it doesn’t feel wrong when Google does it. At least Google links it back to the source, when PicPoke pretty much steals it, with no link back to original source at all. PicPoke also changes the URL to the image, so people cannot figure out the original source of the photo.

Looks like PicPoke, owned by PhotoBucket thinks that any photos on the web are their for anyone to take.

Looks like PicPoke and PhotoBucket are pretty low on the ethics scale. So far they are only using my snapshots without permission and not by photo blog. You guys really stink.

Photography Copyrights

I really like Picasa and use it often, but it’s not for everyone. If you want to try something else that is in some aspects is easier to use, runs faster and less bloated then take a look at  FastStone Image Viewer.

It’s hierarchical navigation made me feel pretty comfortable right off the bat, but then again I am a hierarchical kind of guy.

Faststone is one of the most comprehensive image managers that I have ever seen. It’s crazy fast, contains a file converter, renamer, and an editor that supports most file formats – including raw format for my Nikon and Canon cameras.

I use it primary to manage (edit) my photos – and by that I mean to view, rename, convert, and move photos around my hard drive.

You can also do comparisons, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, color adjustments, build contact sheets and much more. For major post processing I use CaptureNX2, Photoshop Elements and sometimes GIMP. I can easily move images from FastStone to those application with a right click.

Slideshows can also be compiled as a stand alone executable file – really great for presentations. Just pick some photos, create a slideshow and save it as an exe file – music or a soundtracks can be added.  Transitional effects number 150 – so plenty of fun their.

Selective tagging, click and dragging, and the ability to define your favorite folders gives you a pretty quick way to organize your photos.

It supports dual monitors, with thumbnails on one monitor and full screen preview on the other.

While viewing a photo in full screen mode, just move your mouse to the left and a menu flies out  with file & slideshow, rotation, resize & text, adjustment, and effect options. Move to the right side and see the file and attribute information, exif, histogram, and jpeg comment data. Move the mouse to top and the bottom and get two more fly-out menus – but I will let those be a surprise.

Multi level undo, the ability to acquire images from your scanner and use multiple skins adds to the fun.

The print function offers options such as fit to page, position on page, gamma correction and it’s easy to set margins – as well as a button for your native printer options.

  FastStone image viewer contains no spyware, no adware and does not try to install toolbars on your computer. Works with Windows only and around a 4.5 meg download.

Extensive documentation in the form of a 94 page PDF file really puts a nice finishing touch on this project.

I am disappointed to see that FastStone does not give us a way to edit EXIF or IPTC photo information, but then again neither does Picasa.

It’s hard to choose between Picasa and FastStone – it’s like comparing an apple and an orange. But whey choose one when you can use both.

While you visit faststone.org,  take a look at their other three apps – all first class products.

Freeware, Photography, Software Editing, Freeware, Images, Photography