Caught in Between

image from PDN online

Alright, so I've been trying to avoid blogging about this for some time now. But, I can't resist anymore.... My reason for not wanting to talk about it is because I really don't know what to say. 

I've been following this issue for some time now (pretty much since the beginning) and it's been making the news more frequently in the past couple of days...I've been trying to ignore it. 

Former AP photographer Mannie Garcia photographed President Obama back in 2006. Artist Shepard Fairey used the photograph to create one of his famous style posters. The poster was a HUGE hit during the campaign and one could see it everywhere. It became an icon. AP caught hold of this along with other photographers and bloggers wondering where the original image came from. It was later discovered that it is Mannie Garcia's photograph. 

Now, AP is claiming copyright infringement and there's going to be a court battle and all of that legal mumbo jumbo. AP wants compensation for whatever profits the poster took in. 

My predicament... I LOVE Shepard Fairey's work. I LOVE Obey Propaganda and wear the overly priced t-shirts regularly (mine are always the clearance ones because I'm cheap, and I found two for super duper cheap because a store was going out of business. lol! okay enough about shopping). I've been a fan of Shepard Fairey since the early years where you'd just see the Obey Giant stickers or stencil spray painted images on walls and signs in cities. When the poster came out, i was like yeaaahhh Fairey! But.. I never thought about where the original was from. 

 

What I can't get past is the photographer in me and that I believe that Mannie should be credited with the image. It is very much altered and not the same but it is from a photograph. I don't know how I feel about the whole compensation part though. And the other half of me feels like AP is just jealous because their image wasn't popular like Fairey's (hahaha and that's just the Obey fan in me talking). And the thing that really gets me is that you don't really hear much about what Mannie has to say, and he's the one who took the photograph. Not AP. Even though they own the rights to it. 

So basically, I don't know how to feel about this because A.) I'm a photographer. and B.) I'm a huge Obey fan...... 

I do know this. I would be honored to have one of my photographs turned into a Shepard Fairey work of art, but I would like credit for the original.

I would love to read comments and opinions from all of you out there reading this blog. So comment away!!!!

You can read more about this topic on pdnonline.com HERE

and nyulocal.com HERE

...or just google it.  :-)