Friday, June 6, 2008

Thank God It's Friday


Listen up Photographers... this is important. The proposed "Orphan Works" legislation continues to be considered in the U.S. Senate. There is a great deal of very good information put forth by the Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) here on why this bill is bad for you, bad for me, bad for all creators of intellectual property, especially those of us working in the visual arts arena. For more information on the history of the Orphan Works Bill & commentary of how it will affect all producers of copyrighted material, SAA released it's position paper on the matter yesterday which you can read here. Please follow the links I have provided here, read the material and then contact your legislators and urge them to kill this bill, or to at the very least, consider some of the options and amendments to to the proposed bill as put forth by organizations like Editorial Photographers (EP),  and the SAA. When calling or writing your senators, I urge you to be prepared, be professional, be polite. If you are writing to voice your objection to the bill, please be polite, literate and please use a spell checker. The American Society of Advertising Photographers (APA) has a sample letter that can be downloaded and  sent here. For contact information on how to reach your legislators in Congress, go here.

Time is of the essence and future control of your work and income hangs in the balance.

Otherwise... I'm grateful that the week has come to an end. Lot's of assignment work this week with advertising projects for more retail shops at the Grand Wailea Resort, an editorial shoot for Spago restaurant at the Four Seasons Wailea Resort and fulfilling a stock request for the image posted at the top of this entry, which will run full page in the next issue of Hawaiian Airline's in-flight magazine Hana Hou to illustrate a story on the Orchid Exhibition during this year's Maui County Fair.

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