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...

Update: I was reading more about this today and saw a comment on a blog from David Hobby that I thought I would share: You also have to realize that Maisel has been in business forever, and by default has long had his shit together WRT how he reacts to infringers. I am sure that proficiency has come from the fact that he has surely been infringed thousands of times. Frankly, I am not condoning the behavior of either party. But in this case it would be like deciding to walk up to a random person on the street, and that person turing out to be Chuck Norris.

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。