How Plagiarism made me prove Henri Cartier-Bresson wrong!
So plagiarism is a hot topic of discussion around here on Steemit.com also like it was everywhere else for years. ie, older platforms like Flickr, livejournal, blogger etc.
I am a big achiever when it comes to plagiarism and I simply consider as theft. The reason is mostly its done by people who should be aware of ethics.
So here is my story.
I got a job & went ahead and bought a camera as soon as I can. And I went home. Met someone who used to take me around as a kid and took a photo of her. That was the next day after owning a camera.
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” ― Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB)
I whole heartily agree with HCB - the master of Candid Photography. Do I ?
Now what if someone steals your worst photograph and puts it as a magazine cover ?! What do you call them ?!
(They never even cared to respond or acknowledge.)
But here I am, a random guy on the second day with with own camera, breaking all conventional wisdom and logic on the cover page of a weekly/magazine. Can I say that I have been on the cover page with handful of my random snapshots ? Phew!!!
Few months passed & the monsoon (rainy) season has started and I walked around in my home town. Little did I knew that the result was going to be the following!
This time is a news paper in Gulf.
Time went by & an year or so later, I went to visit a relative and we cousins climbed a nearby hill & it rained. So, I took a random shot of my cousins and a relative trying to protect from rain.
I tried to edit the photograph. I couldn't - it was sharp, very poetic and I just uploaded it on flickr. Little did I knew about photography or photographers. It took me a decade or more to understand that I never took that picture and I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. The best way to describe is to quote Ansel Adams.
“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams
I did a photography exhibition of my work under the name Decisive Moments - A photo exhibition on the journey of self discovery (അനർഘനിമിഷങ്ങൾ - in Malayalam, my mother toungue) where every photo was a random accident with no involvement other than clicking the shutter from me. "When it Rains on the Mountains" was a major attraction which was by then seen by lots of people and they were surprised to learn that I was one who took the photograph and even more reluctant to believe that the photo was completely untouched and straight out of a point and shoot camera.
The reason was:
(Friends had found and kept alerting me about the incidents like this post here )
I hated it every time a plagiarist took my work, I never wanted money or even fame. But I hated stealing and I hated when someone stole from me. I fought with everyone who steal and the community rallied behind. There was quite a few victories as well.
As time went by, I think I started understanding few basics of photography and started looking into ritual arts. One of my favorite was Theyyam - which is an ancient ritual art form. I travelled to North Kerala everytime there is a Theyyam, roamed around, spend entire days chasing numerous Theyyams. I was very happy about the experience. So was many others.
The photography has become like the default image of Theyyam & I went ahead and released it under creative commons license and shared in Wikipedia as well.
I see some of the cool, appreciable uses as well:
In between, ie going after rituals and extreme events like Theyyam, Festivals with Oracles, Bull fight etc, I was fascinated with stage performances for a while.
Some were nice enough to showcase that phase of my self-discovery.
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When I say, my photographs are seen by not a few, not thousands, millions, some of the public ones like the ones are a proof. HCB - do you have anything to say about 10000 photographs now ? I apologize for sarcasm HCB.
Photo by : Mohanraj
So around this time, I was angry, I had my fights, legal case with plagiarists and I hated them ...
But it all changed when one of my closest friends called me said
"Why the hell is your feet all over place ?"
"I am not able to walk to my home peacefully as your feet is all over ...."
So she being the one I call "pickachu" 
& half crazy, I did was looking for a proper response. But then when I found what she was saying, I changed my mind.
(Apolitical foot photo used for political purposes - The foot-photo is from Bobinson Courtesy: Shekhar Menon )
There might have been incidents of plagiarism at varying levels, but one's own body part being plagiarized and me being no celebrity or porn artist this was the weirdest example.
I had the honor of having my feet all over a city of 5 million!
Initially I felt terrible, but then the thought of having one of those leeches using my feet to win an election was something of a victory. Normally we, the layman is at their feet and this was one of those very rare cases where a ordinary, non-saint had his feet being touched by one of those leeches. So I found peace.
I no longer worry about robbers who steal the hard work. I found peace.
footnotes
So here I am, a photography enthusiast with 3 solo exhibitions & millions of viewers who has helped me to defy the very definition of maestros. No, it doesn't make any proud. I feel helpless and thanks to you all the plagiarists - what you are doing when you plagiarise is not even stealing, you are performing and act of robbery. A crime, an act of extreme violence towards an artist's soul which leaves ever lasting scars.
Think Twice before being so mean.
References:
Photos are "shamelessly" copied from the below two links.
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/shajahanmoidin/2691319027/
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/shajahanmoidin/2692535960/
- Original title of this post was "A compilation of my Stolen Photographs"
I am still wondering how are you keeping your calm.?
Haha. Same here!
he he ...
making the politician "touch" my feet was something made me find peace actually ... Everyone was surprised, but I had this dark happiness and I found peace. I actually felt terrible while writing this post and It took me few hours. It was painful thinking about it again and it used to happen every-time... I have never felt that after the "feet" incident. I felt those who control and sell us can be even brought down by a single photo of random individual and they need our support. History also has shown similar things. Infact, I used to hate politicians to the core before this incident - now I look at them with no hatred or aversion but more like a mosquito or a bed-bug. They are corrupt, money minded, power-mongers but too weak for you and me and like us.
Writing about that on a decentralized platform which also has the goal of self governance, peace and property and end the control of politicians (governments) it makes perfect sense. The power is shifting and people are realizing. It was like a reminder of
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. " ---
V
For me, it just says,
These are just "vermin " to crushed ... in time.
A simpler logical reasoning is that I will keep my feet attached my body for the time being, its worth loosing it over a photo used by "vermins" & I also stopped going after the vermins as time will take them out as that's how nature works.
damn! that's a lot of images!
Does your country not have copyright laws? You seem to have the most amazing gift and curse when it comes to these photos. At least here on steemit.com you can be paid directly.
Forget HCB, did you ever consider your photography skill so seriously?
I think now you have enough portfolio to present before potential customers (including politicians, publication houses) :)
Checked your flicker - Awesome pics - Keep it Up
true ;-)
Nice
I think you can take legal actions as well. It is completely unfair if they use it for magazine covers and all.
I had make this like my full time occupation ... with so many, its not easy. I have plans to apply for guiness book of world records etc now
As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!
Everything can be stolen :) Now the owner has to fight to prove that he is the owner. That is the state of law.
more than law its the state of mind of people IMHO. Thanks for the comment.
sad to read about your experience. I am sharing this on social media so that more people become aware of this. I hope you introduce a watermark on photos with the name bobinson splashed across the photo, every single photo and no one will touch it
means, even if they steal, your name cannot be cut off
I have seen professionals doing that, good idea.
names can be cut off ... Fortunately or Unfortunately I am engineer with experience in image processing a bit and also have done few basic projects involving complicated programing. None of that can help sorting out people's attitude. This is more of an attitude issue as opposed to a technical issue.
There is the other side also - take famous, say, Steve McCurray, he claims his photographs are not altered, but of late, the manipulations of his work is caught "red handed". So editing doesn't work whatever resources we have our disposal.
But then people remember great artists, irrespective of who they are. The best example is Mr K J Vincent From Paravoor, Kerala. There is a generation of photographers who got inspired his work. I went to attend his funeral when he died from a train accident while taking his last photographs. That was the first and last time I have ever met - I feel sad even now.
That's how good artists remain. That's how good art work lives on.
You had a tons of experiences it seems. You may want to look at this if you already haven't: https://kodakcoin.com/
As I had mentioned earlier, you could do this as a professional. With the coming blockchain tech hopefully you'd be able to put a claim on your work :-)
It’s shitty that someone takes your creative works and profits from them. But I guess if we leave them open and unprotected we can not really complain that someone stole them and is using our image without permission or payment.
Even though the World is full of lazy greedy people it should not stop us from sharing.
Unbelievable!!!!!!
@grumpycat - here is my personal history with plagiarism. A part of it atleast.