My photos for paintings?

Wow that article is crazy, I think I'll put that on my blog.

exile wrote in post #8326446
Funnily enough I read a really bad example of a painter trampling on a photographers copyright today - read about it here ... http://www.flickr.com …/pool-ayrshire_landscapes

Great link, thanks for sharing that! Amazing the stuff people think they can get away with!!

OK, gonna play a bit of devil's advocate... or at least pot stirrer... not meaning to push buttons or make this hostile in any way, shape or form... Just very curious... I think there is some seriously gray areas here...

The OP and the included link are obvious situations where the painting did (or would) come from the photograph and obtaining permission (at the very least) is the right thing to do...


Here's a situation to ponder:
Imagine an artist (painter) visits a famous landmark, or at least a very public landmark, say the Eiffel Tower, or perhaps a lighthouse... the views are inspiring... yet he doesn't have a camera with him (dumb I know, but give me at least his batteries are dead, ok?)...

He goes not to the internet to find a photo, but to the gift shop for a postcard that shows the view that inspired him... He absolutely saw the same image/perspective, from the same position with his own eyes... is he supposed to contact the postcard photographer to get permission to in a sense use "that photo" as his reference?? That seems rather silly doesn't it? You can't really copyright a particular view...


Discuss...

Concretin Nik wrote in post #8327910
That seems rather silly doesn't it? You can't really copyright a particular view...


Discuss...

Yup, that's right - you can't copyright a view! However, if you visit the same place 7 days in a row at different times of the day and in different weather you will see 7 different views. To look at it a different way, 10 POTN photographers on a POTN meet roll up a location and start exploring. They all come up with different expressions of that same location.

An artist who has been somewhere and wishes to express his experience of a place in a painting, but who looks for a post card/photo to use as a reference to make sure that the main features are all in the right place is creating a new work. If they aren't expressing their expereince of the place and merely expressing their experience of the postcard ... well that doens't have much merit does it. A photocopier could do that.

Copying a work without permission and then passing it off as your own is not acceptable.

Being inspired by a work and then creating your own work starting with a blank canvas on which you express your own thoughts/feelings/mean​ings is not just OK, its a good thing.