Copycat Update

Good morning! This is a long but important post.

A little sleep and a whole lotta love from my blog buddies' comments, emails, and even a great phone chat with one of my idols last night, and I am feeling better this morning. I still have not heard from the copycat, but I've been told that copyright laws are different in Europe where this person is from. So I am still hoping this is a case of her just not knowing better. I have broken down my thoughts on all of this a bit . . .

• I hate drama and conflict and confrontation. I avoid it at as much as possible so I hate this situation, not life, just this situation.

• I want this person to understand what she did was wrong, not just for my purposes, but so that other artists aren't put in the same position. We need to police our community, at least our own art, a bit for the protection of our work as a whole. We need to work together, support each other, and not steal from one another. That doesn't help anyone.

• I don't want anyone to know who my copycat is. I don't want anyone to gang up on her or send her bully comments. I just want her to understand - hopefully she will respond to my message and rectify the situation. She needs to understand because if she does it to someone a little bigger, meaner, and vindictive - she could be kicked off flickr and even sued.

• I am happy to share my work if asked. I have collaborated on pieces many times. I have given work away and I have given permission for parts of it to be used. They are not holy hands off parts of me IF I am given the choice to share it. When it's taken from you without your knowledge it's another story. And when you discover it was taken by someone you cheered on and supported, the wound runs a little deeper I think.

• The whole thing has had me thinking of copyright issues and my own faults. I started to identify the log in my own eye as I tried to remove the splinter from someone else's last night for awhile. I thought of the boots and hair I have scanned from mag pix and catalogs. My good friend Pam of Yoborobo sent me a great link that made me feel much better. This is worth taking the time to read http://askharriete.typepad.com/ask_harriete/2009/05/fair-use-guidelines.html After studying more details on Harriete's site I felt pretty good that I have obided by the 5 guidelines in my use of those boots and hair. The person that took from me used the pieces unaltered in the exact same way and context in a competitive market and in a way that would confuse the issue of who the pieces belong to and the end result is unmistakably similar. She clearly failed at meeting 4 of the 5 guidelines.

• I realize I may be a bit over the top on this in the opinion of some. Copyright has been a concern of mine. I don't think that surprises anyone given my long work descriptions and credits below my work wherever I upload it. I pay for licensing fees, I pay for commercial use rights, I ask permission, I give credit. That's just what makes it all work for me. And, it is handy to have the record should anything ever be called into question or be published in a magazine or on a website. Other websites and publications require often require those credits. Part of the reason for this is so that pieces I am allowed to use, even pay for, pieces we may all purchase, or create, should not ever be assumed to be part of the public domain (unless they truly are) because they have been shared and downloaded so many times it's hard to figure out where they came from until someday there is no way to know if what your using is stolen or not.

Hopefully you are still awake and I have not caused you to doze off. Hopefully I am not such a whiner and drama queen that you will come back here again and enjoy my favored lighthearted disposition. I would like to say hopefully this is the end of this, but I will let you know when and if the situation has been rectified.

Now for some good news . . . I was contacted this morning by the editor-in-chief of a website for women's issues asking to have my work featured along side one of my earliest artist idols, the great photographer and digital artist, Rose Hardy. (The website she shares with her long distance love of her life, Aaron Nace, has been in my blog links since the beginning - ARFotography) What a surprise and honor! When it is up, I'll let you know where you can see it.

Okay now, don't bother with me and my drama anymore today. I'm actually off for the day. You have been wonderful to me. You have saved me. You have touched and overwhelmed me. Go make something beautiful and enjoy your life as an artist/creator!