Registering the Copyright of Stock Photographs, Net Neutrality and Letters to Obama

These images will soon be posted with Photolibrary, one of my stock agencies.

The shots were part of a big batch of images I just registered online with the Electronic Copyright Office. Since I registered them before they were published, the process was relatively swift and painless. Registering published material takes more doing.

As soon as you click the shutter, you own the copyright to your image. However, if the image is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, you can go after legal fees and statutory damages if someone infringes your work.

In this wired world, it has become far easier for scoundrels to swipe your work. Best to embed your contact and copyright in the metadata of your photos. However, a recent American Society of Media Photographers report notes that sites such as MySpace and Facebook remove such metadata. I place a copyright watermark overlay on each image I post on Facebook and TwitPic.

The plots thickens in terms of fingering infringers. I have been in touch with the Copyright Alliance. Current issues include "net neutrality." As they explained it to me: "Net neutrality is over who monitors and controls internet space. So, if your work is infringed upon through the internet, who is held responsible? The internet service provider? The web application? The creator?"

The Copyright Alliance has a letter for creators to send to President Obama that affirms the importance of artists to the economy and copyright protection to the economy of artists. Last week, 11,ooo signed letters were delivered to the White House. Send yours now.

About these photographs? As most were taken when I was on my way somewhere to do something, they are about paying attention.

©John Nordell 2009

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Library Lovers Protest Proposed Budget Cuts - March, Rally, Candlelight Vigil

The rally over, David Brock glowed like the post-sunset sky as he explained the true grassroots nature of the action. "There were no real leaders," he told me.

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Brock had been talking with fellow Greenfield, Massachusetts resident Garth Shaneyfelt about the proposed library budget cuts and they decided: "Let's have a march." Mr. Shaneyfelt made an event on Facebook and it just went from there.

(Establishing shot)

Using a bullhorn, Mr. Shaneyfelt addressed the roughly two hundred protesters. The group had marched down Main Street and through the Greenfield Public Library before rallying in front of City Hall.

(Subjects in Action)

The librarians greeted the marchers with waves, and collected donations.

(Subjects in Action)

The proposed cuts will result in staff layoffs, reduced hours of operation and put the library's certification in question.

(Experimental)

(Subjects in Action)

Five-year-old Theo Papachristos urged Greenfield Mayor William Martin to: "Save our library!" Mayor Martin told the crowd that all town departments are being cut. A librarian explained to me that her institution's certification is in jeopardy because the library's cuts are proportionally larger than other town services.

(Portrait)

(Detail)

The Library Lovers collected signatures asking the town council to talk with Mayor Martin about ways to move through these tough times without cutting the library's budget. "We (the town) have the rainy day fund," Mr. Shaneyfelt told me, "and it's monsoon season in America, as they say."

(Conclusion or Final Comment)

The protesters held a candlelight vigil outside the library after the march and rally.

(Conclusion or Final Comment)

12-year-old Rose Jackson Fairest read outside by candlelight (talk about symbolism!). "It's amazing to see that so many people care about the library. I've never been to any march like this. I'm very glad I came. It felt really good to support the library. It's one of my favorite places."

My purpose for covering the event was at least threefold.

1. Some of the images will be available for licensing at The Image Works, my editorial stock agency.

2. I will soon be teaching a class about event photography and wanted to show some fresh examples. I assign my students six different approaches for thorough coverage. The categories are noted beneath each image.

3. I love documenting people taking a stand.

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On the Sensuous Experience of Using a Film Camera

I left the Franklin Area Survival Center with a light heart and used two cameras. After donating clothes to this food pantry/thrift store, I bought a miniature digital camera ($2.00) and a no-settings panoramic film camera ($1.00). Since I cannot remember the last time I shot film, I tried the film one first.

I cracked open the film box, popped off the film container top (which released a whiff of film), extracted the cassette, clicked open the camera's back, pulled out the rewind knob, inserted the cassette, threaded the leader, closed the back and finally advanced the film. I was ready to shoot.

Compared with digital camera on/off buttons, what a sensuous experience! I felt like the frisky suburban housewife getting her hair cut by Edward Scissorhands, a gentle movie character who has scissors instead of hands.

(Click on an image to enlarge. Click your browser's back button to return to blog.)

On a recent lunch break, I darted down by the Connecticut River, in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. I ran into one of my students, proudly showed her my plastic film camera and declared, "I feel like I am on a sacred journey."

One of my early mentors, Jerry Berndt, encouraged me to use a variety of camera types to jog my brain and eye and fingers out of habitual ways of being and doing. Composing with this small, lightweight box was an injection of creative juice. I reveled in the sounds of the simple shutter clicks and the creaky gears of the film advance mechanism.

I had the film processed and scanned at a drugstore (Walgreens). I love the look. This is Autumn.

© 2009 John Nordell

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Sound Poem No.1 - On the Kindness of New Yorkers

I might not have noticed the Honey Locust seed pods dangling above the sidewalk if an elegantly clad New Yorker toting a Saks Fifth Avenue bag had not reached up to pluck one off a branch.

As I shook a limb to capture the seed pods rattling, a stranger stepped up and offered to take over, enabling me to concentrate on my video making. The man's actions expressed not only kindness, but a willingness to participate in my unexplained venture.


©2009 John Nordell

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