Stolen Art

Here are my feelings on photographing other pieces of artwork.

There are a few reasons you would do such a thing. One is to document a likeness of an art piece for a catalog or brochure, like if it was in a gallery show. This is usually known and approved by either the artist or their representative.

Another reason might be because you were commissioned to document the work for some other reason, like a private collection, or just to show the artist's work for some reason, like a book. In both cases stated above, the artists name should accompany such photograph to give them credit for the work.

Another reason would be to attempt making the work of art into something different based on your own vision, in other words make it "your own." In this case it would be okay to "steal" the art if it is changed enough from the original. I liken this to a musician performing cover songs. A cover song of another artist that sounds almost if not exactly the same is a copy to show respect and admiration and the writer or performer of the song should be mentioned. A cover song that is interpreted differently and done in a new, unique way, becomes more of the new artist's based on the change of performance. Think Jimi Hendrix's Watchtower, the Grateful Dead's Not Fade Away, Aerosmith's Come Together, and thousands more.

In these samples shown below, I call them "stolen art" because I am not the one that did the original sculpture, I am only the one who photographed the sculpture and changed it to fit my own vision and interpretation. They are not exact documents showing you exactly what the entire sculpture looked like as it sits out on public display for anyone to see (or photograph). They are merely the pieces I was most interested in and wanted to do something with.

I should note that even though I changed the original art to my own interpretation, I would however still be happy to list the sculptors name if I knew it. I cannot currently find my notes of that shoot and I don't remember if the artist was listed on it. I will someday return to the site to check and add that later when I find out.

My point is that I think I have abstracted the original piece and changed it to make it "my own." These are all taken from a Veteran's of Foreign War Memorial on display in Roosevelt Park, Edison, New Jersey. I don't think you need to know the site of the original sculpture to view my interpretations, but I list it because so many people wonder what the heck it is and in case you want to go see it for yourself. It is not against the law to visit a public place like this and take a photograph of it. What you do with that photograph is up to you. Rather than show a more realistic document of the entire sculpture or some sort of reference of scale or other reality based information, I chose to express my interpretation in this way because that's my own personal artistic expression. You are welcome to do it in other ways if you want. I'd be happy to provide you with directions if you would like to try.

As always, feel free to leave feedback and let me know what you think.

Mother and Child Portrait

I was on assignment in New Jersey. It was Thanksgiving Day and I was shooting at a public dinner for the "less fortunate." It wasn't specifically for homeless people, but there were homeless there. It was also for people who maybe couldn't afford a big Thanksgiving meal, or didn't have the knowledge or time to cook one, or maybe didn't have anyone to spend the holiday with. It was held in a church and lasted for about 6 hours. People were welcome to come at any time, stay as long as they wanted, and eat until they couldn't eat any more. There was even some entertainment of church groups singing.

I actually had fun there talking with different people and took a variety of different pictures, some for the assignment and some for myself. I even had time to sneak a little of the food. I noticed this one lady with her boy at a table and tried to talk to them, but didn't have much luck. I guess they either didn't speak English or didn't really want to talk. I at least got out of them that she was the mother to the little boy. I thought she looked old enough to be the Grandmother, probably because of her body language. She sure didn't appear to have much energy. After watching the boy for a while, I figured she was just exhausted from trying to keep up with him all day long, every day.

The boy did what most boys his age do as soon as he finished eating. He started getting fidgety, then sliding down his chair, then crawling around under the table, then when told to come out, went running around the table and then around the entire room. I watched as he did all this and took a few photos of him running around. When I looked at the mother, she seemed sort of defeated, like she either did not have the energy to chase after the boy or didn't know how to control him. I guess I felt a little sorry for her. I wanted to help her out, but I didn't want to step into territory where I shouldn't have been stepping.

My solution was to see if I could get the kid to stop long enough to pose for a picture with his mother. That would calm him down for a minute and get him close enough to her so she could hang on to him and not let him run around anymore (if she wanted). I caught the boy as he went screaming by the table. I kind of pointed and used gestures to show him that I wanted him to go over to his mother so I could take their picture together. He appeared to agree to it and she seemed grateful for the opportunity also. This is the one and only shot I took of them because she let go of him and he took off to run around some more.

Feel free to comment and leave your opinion about it.

It was taken with a Nikon D70 at a focal length of 42mm because I was right next to them. I used a side mounted flash with the shutter speed of 1/60 of a second and aperture was f/4 because I wasn't interested in having a focused background beyond my subject.