Take a look at this post: Modern Life is a mobile phone and coffee on the run.
Then go take a look at this image on flickr by swingking85.
Modern Life is…went up onto boards.ie in their random thread and caused some debate in the thread.
Yesterday I get a message from swingking85 – and yes I know his name but I am never sure how much people are protecting their identities online – to say he’d done something inspired by my coffee shot. And that he’d remove it if I wanted.
I suppose I could have said, yeah, pull it. I mean, the coffee and mobile phone idea was mine. But…I couldn’t. I mean, take all the photographs of Yosemite that have been taken since Ansel Adams’ day…and it’s not like the photograph was a carbon copy of mine. The photo is extremely different even if it has the same subjects – a cup of takeaway coffee and a phone. Mine is very obviously the poorman’s phone (look I haven’t upgraded yet) and the coffee brand has a different caché to Starbucks. The context is utterly different – this is more life in the office than life on the run.
And when all is said and done, if someone comes and says “I created this because of something you did”, that’s a great feeling.
So no, I wouldn’t be issuing a take down. I’m fascinated though by the possibilities of getting a bunch of photographers to shoot exactly the same subjects – freely – anywhere – so that context is from the photographer alone – and seeing what they come back with. What the differences are.
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