Whose Art is It?

2

I don’t know about you, but I have issues with architecture. There is so much to photograph when you see a building. My concern is this: I am taking a picture of someone else’s art. At what point am I creating my own image and at one point am I merely showing you what the architect wanted you to see? To what degree is the photo mine?

Think of that when you view this fine piece by @bloomchen. (There is no right answer.)

Credits: bloomchen

Feel free to express your views in the comments.

geschrieben von emperornorton am 2014-11-18

2 Kommentare

  1. stratski
    stratski ·

    Always a difficult question, that one. Personally, I think a picture of a piece of architecture is a new piece of art. The choice you make in what camera, what film, what angle etc. means that you are re-interpreting an existing piece of art into a new one. But that's only my opinion. Unfortunately, some architects see it differently, and they have copyright laws behind them. There is of course the well known example of the Eiffel tower. You can take pictures of it, but you're not allowed to sell those pictures (of put them on a mug or calendar etc. to sell) without permission, because it's copyrighted. Here in the Netherlands I actually once got a notice from a law firm that I had to stop selling a picture of a bridge. They thought it was the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam, and the architect. has put down very strict rules about what type of pictures you may sell. No image manipulations, no details, stuff like that. (In fact, they were wrong, it was actually a picture of a different brigde, somewhere in Germany).

  2. emperornorton
    emperornorton ·

    @stratski Thanks for your answer. I like bloomchen's photo and I applaud him for having the courage to present his vision. The Eiffel tower is only copyrighted at night. You can take all the pictures of it during the day and never run afoul of its copyright. (Strange but true.) The Hollywood sign is copyrighted. What I want to know is how do you do that? I would like to copyright our condo just for the hell of it.