Pfeiffer Beach Keyhole Arch, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, California © Cathy DesRochers.
There is no shortage of people willing to tell you what you should be doing. One of the great joys of nature photography is being out in the field, away from all those people who are trying to run our lives. So, how great is it when someone actually asks you what they should be doing?
Perhaps you’ve heard about the controversy swirling around The Vessel, a massive “sculpture” in the heart of Hudson Yards, a huge real estate development in Manhattan? It’s been described as an M. C. Escher drawing come to life and instantly became a favorite Instagram background for visitors to New York. You can learn more about it in the video above.
When you snag a ticket for admission to The Vessel, as in so many things in life these days, you agree to various terms and conditions. Nobody reads them, right? Well, someone did and found that, by buying a ticket, you were agreeing to terms that essentially gave ownership of your photo to the real estate development. The original terms stated that you were giving the company “the irrevocable, unrestricted, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable right and license to use, display, reproduce, perform, modify, transmit, publish and distribute such photographs, audio recordings or video footage for any purpose whatsoever in any and all media (in either case, now known or developed later).”
Kathy Adams Clark, Photographer, by Jeff Rose
Photographer, naturalist and teacher Kathy Adams Clark will receive NANPA’s Mission Award at the 2019 Nature Photography Summit and Trade Show, February 21-23 in Las Vegas, NV. The NANPA Mission Award (formerly NANPA Recognition Award) goes to someone who epitomizes NANPA’s principles. The selection criteria include promoting nature photography, giving back to the photo community, raising public awareness of “nature’s beauty and wonders,” and both adhering to and promoting NANPAs values and mission statement.
Based in the Houston metropolitan area, Kathy has been a professional nature photographer since 1995. Her photos have appeared in hundreds of paces including magazines, books, calendars and in the weekly “Nature” column in the Houston Chronicle, written by her husband, Gary Clark.
She teaches photography classes, leads workshops, and volunteers as a public speaker, always bringing messages about nature into her presentations. She helped write the NANPA Mission Statement, previously served as NANPA’s president (2007-8), on the board of directors, and on both the awards as well as the summit committees. Recently we had a chance to ask her a few questions
George D. Lepp
Photographer, educator, writer and mentor George D. Lepp will receive NANPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Nature Photography Summit and Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV.
To nature photographers and his long-time fans, Lepp needs no introduction. As the awards committee noted, he is “one of North America’s best-known contemporary outdoor and nature photographers. His passions for natural beauty, technical precision, cutting-edge technology, and environmental responsibility are revealed in his beautiful and compelling photographic images. He is also widely recognized for his unique dedication to sharing his photographic and biological knowledge with other photographers through his seminars and writing. In both realms, George Lepp is a leader in the rapidly advancing field of digital imaging.” Continue reading
Great white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) take flight over the blue waters of the Danube Delta in Romania, where many of them breed during their migrations. A pelican’s wingspan can stretch up to 12 feet across, so they are a sight to see close up! For this shot, I took a 12-hour long-boat tour in order to explore the smaller channels of the Delta. It is here where the Danube river meets the Black Sea. © Haley Pope
It is the largest wetland, the second largest river delta, and the best preserved in Europe, I was told. It’s an intricate pastel mosaic of winding river channels, floating reed islets, never-ending blue skies, migrant nesting birds, diminutive spotted frogs, and schools of fish, I was told. A pristine haven for wildlife lovers, birdwatchers, and fishermen and a sight to behold as the river flows through ten countries and finally joins the Black Sea. They were talking about the Danube Delta, a UNESCO world heritage site that covers parts of Romania and Ukraine.
Let’s face it, the current U.S. copyright system does not work for the majority of photographers who operate as individuals or small business owners for a variety of reasons, including the complexity of registration. But perhaps the most significant reason is due to the inability of photographers whose work product is not low volume/ high value to enforce their ownership rights against infringers.
A Manatee Image Goes Viral
An interesting article in PetaPixel raises a whole host of troublesome issues for the modern photographer. https://petapixel.com/2017/09/13/shot-hurricane-irma-photo-went-viral-wasnt-paid-dime/ Michael Sechler, a self-professed “photography enthusiast”, shot a very fine image of a manatee beached out of the water by the tidal surge from Hurricane Irma.
He posted it to Facebook, the image went viral, and then the real fun started. Fox News called. The Associated Press called. Everyone wanted to use the image in news stories, but they all wanted it for free.
Color me shocked. Continue reading
Columns and U.S. Flag, Washington D.C. USA.
As most of you already know, the United States Copyright Office, which is a part of the Library of Congress, is the official U.S. government body that maintains records of copyright registration in the U. S. and, as a service unit of the Library of Congress, provides copyright policy advice to Congress. Continue reading
We have good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good. As part of the Creative Rights Caucus, NANPA is working with fellow visual arts groups to modernize and streamline the copyright registration process and the Copyright Office has been very receptive to doing the same, within the constraints of their current legal mandates, system constraints and budget. Continue reading
NANPA is part of, a group of visual arts associations that have been working for years to modernize the copyright system for photographers and develop a small claims process that makes it easier and affordable to enforce copyright infringements. Jane Halperin, Chair of the NANPA Advocacy Committee, and Sean Fitzgerald attend weekly teleconference meetings with the Visual Association members and their legal counsel to discuss and work on plans to push these plans forward. Last month, we all met in Washington DC to meet with various Congresspersons, their staff, and others on Capitol Hill.
Creative Rights Caucus presentation to Congress on copyright for small creators, with slide showing NANPA logo, Washington D.C. USA.