Dispute over African photographer's images

[Terence Spross]

Michael, I see this is an early example of what I was talking about. His prints lacked quality be todays standards. But his composition was apparently very good. In this case his work was re-printed with the art of the printer added. I understand there was dodgeing and burning added to the original effort and in that respect is similar to the re-mix analogy I stated earlier. As the photographer he should have top billing and get most of the royalty share. However, the printer has added his art and that should also be understood in its own right to be important to the displayed collection. Seydou should understand that the printer is also putting forth the effort to display the work and has added to the work and is entitled to a share in the money. I think the feeling of "being used" came into play because of the percentages of the share etc. Greed is a universal vice.
Perhaps a better analog in the music world would be a band and their record company. The band makes the music - they are the low tech artist. They would not make it as a garage band on their own. The record company, for their part, critiques the music for editing direction and production and may insist on changing the sound in terms of studio recording standards. The band does not get the money they expect as the record co. had to advertise and promote and expects a return on their invertment. They have to average that in with the cost of promoting music that does not sell. There is a resulting difference in opinion about how much money should go the band...... Here, the printer uses better techniques, promotes the material and (I don't know this for sure) probably previously promoted work that did not earn money...

The point I wanted to make is that this sort of thing is just beginning, expect to see more of this for better or worse.

[Terence Spross]

One more thing..
Michael, I see after re-reading your post of 1-23 that your opinion (if I understand it) is that only the photographers prints should count - its his work and no one else should mess with it.

I understand that's the attitude of many photographers and that is also the opinion of many bands in my anology. Real life truth is however often different, and like it or not the promotion by somebody else is also often neccessary to make big time money. The promoter often knows they could do better if certain things are changed. I don't always like to see it happen because I sometimes like the art of the original whether it is an art students original work, a photographers original photos, or whether it is a bands original compositions, in their original form.

I hope eventually all his original negatives are found - perhaps to be represented later in a different form.