This Day In History, 2003

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Above: Canon EOS-1N, 300/4.0 Canon Lens EF L Ultrasonic, Fujichrome Provia 100

ASMP Or Reality TV?

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." Abraham Lincoln

If you're an ASMP General Member then it's highly likely that you've been getting e-mails from Scott Highton. These e-mails from Mr. Highton, a former ASMP director, contain some pretty wild accusations about the current board's activities. Charges that the current board of directors lied to the membership in seeking a dues increase while sitting on a windfall of $1.3 million, concealing the receipt of the $1.3 million itself, using the money to make illicit payments to each other under the table, that the board is misguided, out of touch with the membership, that they put their own financial interests ahead of [those of the members], that they've (the board) committed tax fraud... oh, the list just goes on and on and on.

Many ASMP members don't really know what to make of all of this. While members know the board's really not made-up of crooks, Mr. Highton's charges seem reasonable somehow. And what about that $1.3 million? Why did we need a dues increase if we have that money? Is Highton right? Have we all been duped? And very recently Highton has enlisted Dick Weisgrau, former Executive Director of ASMP, in his campaign to sling a little more mud as regards tax reporting issues that, stopping just short of making an accusation (why? because libel is a slippery slope), imply criminal behavior.

I've written about this before and just because Highton's accusations keep getting traction I'm going to write about it again today.

ASMP members have been enduring the shrill protests of Scott Highton for many years and while his issues vary slightly from year to year they are always presented by Scott in a manner that casts dispersions on the character of our board members and questions their integrity.

Scott Highton is the perpetual squeaky wheel. He is never happy, he is always complaining. For a period of time Scott Highton served on the board of directors. His contributions were remembered by one member as, "a series of disasters punctuated by chaos." His latest e-mails are not intended to solve ASMP's problems, they're intended to exaggerate them and to furnish a stage from which he can play a leading role. He loves the spotlight and the attention and he works tirelessly to attack the people who do the real work of ASMP. His rantings and ravings demand our attention and cost us real money. His campaign is relentless and over the past several years has tried to divide ASMP, not strengthen it. Highton is smart enough, and clever enough, to conjure up just enough plausibility to make his presentations sound reasonable, and it's these half-truths... combined with some glaring omissions... that have wrought so much havoc.

I've been an ASMP member since 1972 in three chapters (NY, NJ, Chicago/Midwest) and at three levels (Student, Associate, General), an ASMP volunteer since 1981. One of the great benefits of being involved has been having the opportunity to meet and get to know many of you, our national directors, every one of the people Scott Highton mentions in his e-mails including Scott himself. Being somewhat an insider, I've learned that the people who now lead ASMP at the national level are the most effective leadership I've seen over the years I've been an ASMP member.

ASMP is more productive now than it's ever been. Every one of our directors, every member of our staff and our executive director are hard working, honest people of the highest calibre and with the utmost integrity. It's my distinct pleasure to know and work with them, and to call them my friends.

Is ASMP perfect? No, it is not. Are Highton's accusations true? Not by a long shot! I've found Scott Highton, and this is strictly my opinion, to be disgruntled, jealous and malicious; likely due to his failure to be re-elected to the national board of directors.

To best illustrate how Highton has spent the past few years spreading incendiary rumors about the board's activities is this: Highton claims that the board pled poverty asking for a dues increase while ASMP was receiving a $1.3 million grant. That grant was given with the stipulation that ASMP not use the money for normal operating expenses, so a dues increase was entirely appropriate. Scott knows that the grant is subject to the aforementioned stipulation, yet he's quite vocal in saying that the board is trying to scam the membership. It's an outrageous claim, and like his others, completely without merit.

Should we be spending our valuable time and resources answering the ridiculous or should we be talking about our future, about how we're going to go about advancing our primary mission of making the world safe for professional photographers?

Let's make a point of rededicating ourselves to the mission that brought us all together: improving the lot of the working professional photographer. This is what we ought to be discussing. Where have we been, what are we doing, can we do more, where's there room for improvement in what we've done? Let's kick that up a notch.

To that end I'm announcing my candidacy for election to the ASMP board of directors in 2010. Over the years I've worked hard to advance photographers' interests as an ASMP chapter Director, a Chapter Vice President (Chicago/Midwest) and a Chapter President (New Jersey); as well as a principal founder of another trade association, SAA, which my friends and I built from the ground up.

We can build a better future, a more stable working environment, be better educated both technically and with sound business practices to navigate an increasingly difficult economy, orphan works, and a host of other obstacles. I'm asking for your vote in the upcoming election so that the work that's so important to us all can continue unabated, and I'll appreciate your support.

Why Don't I Drive A Prius?

You may have noticed that I haven't had much to say the past month or so. Some have speculated that I fell victim to the H1N1 flu and wasn't up to writing, others thought I stayed in NYC after PhotoPlus Expo and took up residence in an SRO hotel sans wi-fi. Actually, it's nothing more than writers' block. It happens from time to time. The fact that I haven't written doesn't mean I have nothing to say.

During my hiatus I've been searching for a villain in the Toyota 4Runner/flickr.com scandal, where Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles (Toyota's ad agency) linked to the images of some photographers with flickr.com galleries and made the images appear to be part of Toyota's mini-site. The problem is not that Saatchi & Saatchi didn't have permission to use the images, the problem is that with all their many years of experience Saatchi knows they have to pay the artists whose work appears in their ads, they've been doing it for years. The result is that Toyota got a black eye and appears to be a villain. After all, the Saatchi name is nowhere to be found on the web site, all anyone sees is the Toyota name so Toyota must be the villain.

The flap began when Michael Calanan, a Denver photographer, learned through a comment on his flickr.com page that one of his images of a couple of bears walking down a trail had appeared on the 4Runner mini-site. It was news to him as he'd never been contacted by Toyota. I first learned about this two weeks ago when Mike posted a note on the ASMPproAdvice listserve looking for advice on what to do about it.

"Now I realise [sic] that the first response," Mike wrote, "will likely be 'get a lawyer' but I still want to pose this to the group, both for its sage advice and because I don't have a lot of extra money to invest in retaining a lawyer."

There were a number of replies suggesting that it's his own fault for having a flickr.com page, he was just asking to be ripped-off... blame the victim. Others wanted to know if the subject image had been registered with the Copyright Office and noted that, other people, who have been similarly victimized, have not been able to interest a lawyer since the damages are limited without registration, you're not entitled to statutory damages or attorney's fees.

From my vantage point, and I realize this will not endear me to the advertising community, the villain is the person at Saatchi & Saatchi who made the decision to use the pictures without so much as asking Mike Calanan and the other photographers if they'd be interested in licensing their images for the Toyota site. Toyota was left in the unenviable position of having to apologize via Twitter, where the whole thing went viral, as well as on flickr where they were roundly trashed. Nobody knows if Saatchi & Saatchi fired the professional who caused all the trouble to begin with, and that should have been done very publicly.

In the meantime, it's worth noting that even though Calanan's image wasn't registered he's (as well as the others) not necessarily out of options. Jeff Sedlik, photographer and very generous copyright maven, pointed out the not-so-obvious: "the photographer might not even want to seek statutory damages in this instance. Actual damages and disgorged profits might prove to be a better route, as the photographer may be entitled to profits resulting from car sales resulting from the use of the image." The entirety of Jeff's comment can be read here.

Toyota have removed the infringed images from the 4Runner mini-site and a spokesperson for Saatchi & Saatchi acknowledged that they worked on the campaign and that they're in the process of rectifying the situation, though two weeks have passed and nobody's been paid. I can only imagine a settlement offer might have been made if the photographers had registered their images. Have you found the obvious lesson here?

Birthday Presence

November has always been my favorite month, all the best stuff seems to happen to me in November. For starters, my birthday is in November... today, in fact... and a happy one it is?

By way of presents, some really good things have come my way. One November morning, in the early days of the world wide web, the New York Times online edition ran a story spotlighting my web site (that gave me good buzz!). A few years later, following the terror attack at the World Trade Center, The Digital Journalist published a couple of my pictures in a story called Seeing The Horror, first-hand accounts by photojournalists on the scene on September 11, 2001.

Being part of The Digital Journalist's story is, thinking about it now, is perhaps my proudest moment in the business. I've been published just about everywhere that means anything to anybody over the years but being included in that group of extraordinary photographers, having the recognition of The Digital Journalist is really gratifying... there's nothing like a magazine about photojournalism, by photojournalists, saying hey, you've made a great picture.

So... what did I get for my birthday today?

Today, on Facebook, the ASMP NY group is closing in favor of a fan page. I joined as a fan, no big deal.

AT&T sent me a note telling me that they're moving (taking away) my two favorite TV channels to the HD Premium Tier effective today. Of course, for another five dollars a month I can get them back. I paid, no big deal.

Also today, I got a note from Dirck Halstead, Editor and Publisher of The Digital Journalist, saying that "Canon, whose market has been impacted by these turbulent times, has decided they can no longer afford to provide their financial backing to The Digital Journalist." This is bad news, this is a big deal!

The Digital Journalist has set-up a PayPal link for their 10,000 readers, and urgently asks for your pledges "so we can continue the work which will help us all. We have never solicited paid subscriptions, but these dire times call for dire measures. If you value The Digital Journalist, this is the time to step up and make a pledge. If enough people do, we may be able to keep The Digital Journalist alive. Consider it as an investment in yourself, and the future."

As far as I'm concerned, The Digital Journalist has been required reading since its inception, whether you're a photojournalist or just a photographer. That hasn't changed. Let's help them survive so it never will change.