In a (mostly) loving parody created for April Fools' Day, photographer Vanessa Joy has put together a hilarious impersonation of Jared Polin—AKA Fro Knows Photo—by creating her own version of a "Photo News Fix" video... complete with fake fro.
Recently a few things came up that makes me ask if or when does the idea of copying someone else’s photo go too far, or is it just a form of flattery derived from a source of inspiration via the route of imitation?
On Saturday, PetaPixel ran the story of a photographer whose photo had been imitated to a surprisingly thorough degree by a German ad agency. While a poll on that article suggested that a clear majority (~74%) of respondents saw it as unethical plagiarism, I thought I’d dig into the legal aspects a bit.
I’m not sure what motivates other photographers, but for me there’s usually a good bit of wanting to do something established—something that I’ve been drawn to and respect or even love—in a different way. In a better way, if I dare aspire.
In PDN's March issue, the magazine highlighted Cade Martin’s impressive ad work that he had done recently for Tazo Tea and Starbucks. As the main feature, it's only natural that one of those images ended up on the cover of the issue (pictured above). Not everyone, however, was as thrilled by Martin's work as PDN.
Photographer Rodney Smith has covertly spoken out about the cover on his blog. In a post titled "The Real Thing," he calls the image an imitation, and wonders why PDN would choose to applaud work that is, as he puts it, "by it’s [sic] very nature ‘second-rate.'"
Joby sent out a press release today warning consumers that there are counterfeit versions of its popular GorillaPod flexible tripod floating around in the wild. While that isn't too newsworthy in itself -- what gear isn't being counterfeited these days? -- it's the juicy details surrounding the release that are quite interesting. Apparently the company directly confronted companies involved in making imitations during Photokina 2012 in Cologne, Germany last month.