Stop by and copy my images?

[Drew Wiley]

There have been incidents where people will plagiarize displayed images using their cell phone; but they could do the same thing off the web. What do they get?
Nothing really, not unless you're live prints are so abominably bad that they look like they came off the web themselves. This isn't like photojournalism, where there
a horse race to see whose shot of some disaster or assassination first gets disseminated. A stolen shot on the wall will look like a cheesy stolen shot, that's all.

[Mike Anderson]

I think allowing snapshot photography of the gallery and things in the gallery is a net win for you. The potential free advertising outweighs the potential copyright dilution.

[alavergh]

While it does seem rude or insensitive at first, I think it's a fine practice. There's really nothing she can do with a cell phone image of something that you've got on display. What is she stealing? How can it be used? A few times I'll photograph a piece of art in a store to use for inspiration later, either in painting or photography. It's the same as if I had a very good memory. People are just looking for reasons to have their feelings hurt that say how horrible she is. The two reactions that I like best involve striking up a conversation and making postcards available with information on them concerning your work and how to see/buy more.

[Darin Boville]

The postcards have been popular so far. Almost everyone who visits has taken one or two, sometimes three (there are three different ones). As far as I can tell no one has yet taken more than one of a single version--at least without asking first.

Some people seem surprised when I tell them they are free.

The information sheets I printed out about each of the three projects are not nearly as popular, even when I'm right there, suggesting they take a copy, signing the praises of background info, etc. I'm thinking there should go on the walls as posters or something. Also thinking that people really want/need individual wall labels for each print, despite the fact that each label will say the same thing, over and over, with just the image number changing. The Pier 24 display aesthetic is not working!

--Darin

[angusparker]

The postcards have been popular so far. Almost everyone who visits has taken one or two, sometimes three (there are three different ones). As far as I can tell no one has yet taken more than one of a single version--at least without asking first.

Some people seem surprised when I tell them they are free.

The information sheets I printed out about each of the three projects are not nearly as popular, even when I'm right there, suggesting they take a copy, signing the praises of background info, etc. I'm thinking there should go on the walls as posters or something. Also thinking that people really want/need individual wall labels for each print, despite the fact that each label will say the same thing, over and over, with just the image number changing. The Pier 24 display aesthetic is not working!

--Darin

Had to laugh. Pier 24 does provide a walk around document that you can correlate to the image .... but I agree it's a little too much the 'no label' thing, still I'm not complaining .... we are getting a world class resource for free and I am very thankful and inspired by their shows.

[AtlantaTerry]

Sorry? What is "Pier 24" and how does it relate to this thread?

[Darin Boville]

Sorry? What is "Pier 24" and how does it relate to this thread?

Pier 24 is a wonderful photography gallery--really a museum--in San Francisco on, you guessed it, Pier 24. It's a private museum and idiosyncratic (in a good way). Someone has given real thought to the viewer's experience and all that si wrong with the traditional museum and has tried to offer an alternative. There are no crowds--you have to reserve your slot in advance--it is free--but that also means you can take your time in the exhibit and really look. And think. No gift shop, no cafe. The employees are knowledgeable.

There are no wall labels next to the images--no doubt this comes from a common complaint--certainly one of mine--that far too many people look at the label more than the artwork and are artificially impressed by famous names on the label, no matter what is in the frame. No no labels, although you can ask for a cheat sheet, as augustparker mentions. They also sell, very inexpensively, catalogs of the show, which often are pictures of the installation rather than just images of the work in isolation. You can buy the catalogs online at the spaces bookstore.

A exhibit will last months and months, giving you ample time to go back again and again.

http://www.pier24.org

It's just a wonderful experience, a great way to see photographs. Real top shelf stuff of all sorts. I wish I lived next door.

The reference is here because in my own gallery I haven't (yet) put up wall labels for each of the images--not really part of any master plan, just haven't done it. Not quite sure I needed to given they are all part of one project. I did print out info sheets on each project. So, sort of accidentally (or not?) like Pier 24 in trying to offer the viewer a better experience yet at the same time asking a little more than normal from the viewer.

Maybe I'll start offering limited time slots next!

--Darin

[Jmarmck]

Seems to me that if you are offering a project that the project would be displayed within a set area of a gallery. If descriptions are not applicable for each image then why not put an easel with a single description and perhaps some of the free media that is associated, and index so to speak? I am not a curator nor a display expert but this seems plausible.

[Jim Cole]

While it does seem rude or insensitive at first, I think it's a fine practice. There's really nothing she can do with a cell phone image of something that you've got on display.

Actually, not always true. A friend of mine, a well known abstract painter was victimized by cell phone pics taken of her work in several galleries, including the one she and I were in together. The pics were sent to China where hired artists were paid a pittance to copy the work. The copied paintings were sold to dealers as originals by the victimized artist. Her long-time dealers told her of the pirated work when they were approached by the company selling the fakes. There was noting she could do. These cell phone photographers traveled all over the US to photograph well known artists' work to copy. Pictures of photographs are not likely to be used this way, but I feel that photography in a gallery should be prohibited unless the visitor asks permission. This allows students of art a chance to study and research while friends can share with friends as long as while photographing, they are not observed to take extreme care with how they photograph the work. Casual photographers take pictures differently than people intending to copy the art.

[ROL]

So that's where I was until at dinner when my fifteen-year-old daughter had a better idea. Their picture probably won't be very good, she said. Misframed, blurry, bad colors. They'll hang them on their wall or cubicle and it won't look as good as it should. It's your photo and it won't look good. And no one will know where it came from. Why not, she suggested, make a nice 5x8 inch postcard of one image from each exhibit area, put them near the door, and give them away for free. Have the gallery name n the corner of the postcard, unobtrusive.

She's a keeper.