An internet firestorm set off today in the photography world around a lawsuit around this photograph of Miles Davis. The photograph was taken about famed New York photographer Jay Maisel. The issue at hand is Andy Baio produced a tribute album to Miles Davis called ‘Kind of Bloop’ and created a pixelated version of Jay Maisel’s Miles Davis Photo. Andy’s lawyers state the pixel art image is ‘fair use’ of the photo. Jay’s side views it as an infringement of his copyright. They settled the lawsuit for $32,500 but in doing so it seems Jay has unknowingly kicked the hornet’s nest called the internet. Rather than lively intelligent debate on the issue it has turned into a bit of a bashing session on Jay, mostly around the fact that he is rich and lives in a mansion in NYC rather than the actual issue. Most of it is down right mean and off point. The most balance person on the topic seems to be the man who was sued Andy Baio himself. You can reach his very well balanced write up HERE.
Original photo © Jay Maisel.
The main crux is people think Jay’s response was ‘heavy handed’. I can’t imagine how much people like Jay have to protect their work. I have found my work in places I haven’t authorized without backlinks and even photo credits and I know how much that bothers me. I read a lot on this today. Andy doesn’t seem to think he knowingly did anything wrong. Both seem like nice people and the entire incident just seems unfortunate. I am a big fan of Jay’s work and I am sorry to see this happen to him. I am planning to attend one of this 5 day workshops in NYC in October. I can’t wait to learn from someone with a career as long as successful as his. I expect to come out a much better photography on the back end. I was reading feedback from previous students and this one continues to echo in my head even now ‘By Friday I was ashamed of photos I was proud of on Monday…’. I can’t wait to be ashamed! Respectful discussion on this topic is welcomed…
A lot of Jay’s photography is focused on the color in the photo so today is about color…
Today’s Configuration: Leica M9 with a Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 with ND64 with a 1.4x magnifier.
今日のカメラ：私のライカM９をつかいます。レンズはNoctilux 50mm f/0.95とND64をつかいました。
I was playing with my Flash last night on inanimate objects… then I remembered I had my Noctilux in my bag.
The Noctilux wins…
Today I noticed how nice the color of these signs were…
well not this one…
Like Domino’s Pizza… My favorite from them is Teriyaki Chicken with corn and mayonnaise of course…
Japanese Word of the Day: いじわる – ijiwaru – mean
Dave Powell is a photographer based in Tokyo, Japan who shoots with a Leica M9. He is the publisher of ShootTokyo, a friendly daily photography blog which he calls a “labor of love.” You can follow him on Twitter @ShootTokyo and visit his photo blog site at http://www. shoottokyo.com.
