CBS Sunday News Macro Coin Photography Large Format

[Tin Can]

Just saw a short TV study about Photographs by Seth Dickerman

He makes very large prints of coins.

https://www.sethdickerman.com/home/currency

Great idea, execution and a process that is both LF prints and scans for bigger prints.

I think this should be not be just in the lounge.

But where...

[Peter De Smidt]

Fun!

[Dan Fromm]

Different bills and coins, always the same image. How boring.

[Oren Grad]

Moved.

[William Whitaker]

A parody of inflation?

[Tin Can]

Thank you


Moved.

[Jim Galli]

Let's see, if I turn the Epson flat bed up to 1600 and scan a Mercury head dime and print it really really big . . . is it art?

[Peter De Smidt]

If you say it's art, then sure. Whether it's good art is the more interesting question.

[Greg]

When I was teaching photography at the University, I would not credit my students with a grade if they handed in prints of statues, graffiti, paintings, etc. I would tell them that the art was created by someone else who should be the ones to get credit for their creations. As for this photographer, I choose to think of him more as an entrepreneur and a business person dealing with reproductions of someone else's artistic work. Dealer, not an artist... Simple as that.

[neil poulsen]

I think that this adds value . . .

It explores the art on currency in a way that we might not otherwise be aware. Personally, I've always taken the art on currency for granted. Not anymore.

I'm also interested in the technical details, which I will review.

Anyway, it appears that Oren was moved by the images. :)

[Sal Santamaura]

...it appears that Oren was moved by the images...You might consider using an appropriate emoticon when making such subtle jokes. :)

[Oren Grad]

Anyway, it appears that Oren was moved by the images.

< chuckle >

So my $0.02:

1. Engraved portraits on paper money interest me as works of graphic art and examples of craft skill. Current US coins not so much, both because I tend not to be so interested in sculpture and because these particular examples of it don't do much for me. YMMV.

2. As for the "I'm Lifting the Images of Statesmen from Currency and Recontextualizing Them by Printing Them Big and Dark as a Commentary on Today's Society" schtick: OK, thanks, got it. Meh.

[Tin Can]

I bet he sells more than a few of his $1000 inkjet prints.

He is photographing an object, not that different from a car, plane or automobile many here rave about. Now it's a sin.

His print is of a common coin, people are common too. Does he need a model release from Uncle Sam?

The question is, does he now have an exclusive copyright on his image, style and execution?

If I exactly emulate his work and sell it outside on the sidewalk close to him for $100, does he have a legal beef?

I will use my own coin, which will be different. What if I use a mint Proof coin without blemish?

Does counterfeiting come into the problem? Especially with paper money...

Stamps...

[Jac@stafford.net]

Different bills and coins, always the same image. How boring.

Do better.

[Dan Fromm]

Do better.

Why bother?

[William Whitaker]

When I was teaching photography at the University, I would not credit my students with a grade if they handed in prints of statues, graffiti, paintings, etc. I would tell them that the art was created by someone else who should be the ones to get credit for their creations. As for this photographer, I choose to think of him more as an entrepreneur and a business person dealing with reproductions of someone else's artistic work. Dealer, not an artist... Simple as that.

Long time ago when I took an intro photography course in college we were told that images of other art work (statues and the like) did not count and were off limits as subject matter for the purpose of grading.
I have come to look on that attitude as a bit short-sighted because the photographer can interpret the artwork/statue or can record it as a record, in a documentary sense and still produce a valid photograph. Case in point, there is a sculpture on that very same campus which consists of several figures. I became intrigued with the interplay between the figures and subsequently photographed it/them in my own interpretation. And to this day I feel that it's completely valid as a photograph. It captures what I felt when I looked at the sculpture just as another photograph might hopefully capture what I felt when I looked at a mountain or a landscape. I will agree that it is a very fine line. And I have seen other sculpture since then that I have felt very drawn to and would have liked to photograph. But I have always been careful to give credit to the original artist.
And what of architecture?

[reddesert]

I bet he sells more than a few of his $1000 inkjet prints.

He is photographing an object, not that different from a car, plane or automobile many here rave about. Now it's a sin.

His print is of a common coin, people are common too. Does he need a model release from Uncle Sam?

The question is, does he now have an exclusive copyright on his image, style and execution?

If I exactly emulate his work and sell it outside on the sidewalk close to him for $100, does he have a legal beef?

I will use my own coin, which will be different. What if I use a mint Proof coin without blemish?

Does counterfeiting come into the problem? Especially with paper money...

Stamps...

You might like to read about the artist J.S.G. Boggs, who drew very detailed, but modified, versions of US paper currency, and whose art included the performance of attempting to get people to accept them in place of legal tender at the cash value he'd drawn (he was explicit that they were works of art he'd drawn, not real money, but the Treasury got very agitated anyway). There is a book by Lawrence Weschler called "Boggs: A Comedy of Values," an expansion of a New Yorker article, which was excellent and hilarious. The article is not freely available online (a bit ironic), but a review of the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/dec/31/society.art and Boggs's obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/arts/design/jsg-boggs-dead.html

[Kirk Gittings]

Why bother?

[Tin Can]

I have heard of Boggs and his adventures.

I believe that all copy machines recognize USD paper money and will not make an exact copy or refuse to do it.

A quick search brings this up. Here’s Why Your Scanner Freaks Out If You Try To Copy Money
(https://www.huffpost.com/entry/counterfeit-money-eurion-constellation_n_576a3aa8e4b0c0252e77b6c4)

And this. 100 Dollar Bill Real Money from Amazon...https://www.amazon.com/slp/100-dollar-bill-real-money/8rrvdhd9gwuo9c4

Getty Images sells them too. Coins, https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/coin?mediatype=photography&phrase=coin&sort=mostpopular


I had no idea this simple little TV show would lead to all this.





You might like to read about the artist J.S.G. Boggs, who drew very detailed, but modified, versions of US paper currency, and whose art included the performance of attempting to get people to accept them in place of legal tender at the cash value he'd drawn (he was explicit that they were works of art he'd drawn, not real money, but the Treasury got very agitated anyway). There is a book by Lawrence Weschler called "Boggs: A Comedy of Values," an expansion of a New Yorker article, which was excellent and hilarious. The article is not freely available online (a bit ironic), but a review of the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/dec/31/society.art and Boggs's obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/arts/design/jsg-boggs-dead.html

[Tin Can]

Getty will sell 16mb quarter image for $500.

https://www.gettyimages.com/purchase/cart#?currentPage=1&sortBy=DateAddedToCart

Not so artistic...

[Pete Roody]

When I was teaching photography at the University, I would not credit my students with a grade if they handed in prints of statues, graffiti, paintings, etc. I would tell them that the art was created by someone else who should be the ones to get credit for their creations. As for this photographer, I choose to think of him more as an entrepreneur and a business person dealing with reproductions of someone else's artistic work. Dealer, not an artist... Simple as that.

So if Atget was your student you would have failed him?


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[Vaughn]

When I was teaching photography at the University, I would not credit my students with a grade if they handed in prints of statues, graffiti, paintings, etc. I would tell them that the art was created by someone else who should be the ones to get credit for their creations. As for this photographer, I choose to think of him more as an entrepreneur and a business person dealing with reproductions of someone else's artistic work. Dealer, not an artist... Simple as that.

Whereas I would have given them extra credit if they could make the image (of statutes, graffiti, etc) their own.