Digital BW, The Print

While I wouldn't presume to know what any of the FSA photographers would think of their work being used as discussed, I'd second Paul's position on this. Like Paul, in the past I did a considerable amount of photographic work for the Texas State Archives (we completed a $200 million renovation and extension of our capitol building a few years back and I was contracted to provide the documentation). All the work belongs to the citizens of Texas. However, on a practical note, access is limited by state regulation.
 
 This discussion reminds me of a related topic, though. It was my understanding, both from what I recall reading at the time and from conversation with Ansel Adams, that he intended for his negatives to be accessable to qualified graduate students. He anticipated digital printing (calling it "electronic photography", if memory serves me) and actually looked forward to his work being re-interpreted as technology moved forward.
 
 I've often wondered about this. I've yet to see, or hear, of anything coming from this.
 
 Bill Kennedy
 Austin, Texas
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: paul.roark@verizon.net
 To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
 Sent: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 7:45 PM
 Subject: [Digital BW] Public Domain photos (was Terrific article on Walker Evans in today's New York Times)
 
     I think disclosure of the facts is required for the sale of these prints to
 be non-deceptive. If all is disclosed - which really should not be a
 problem - then making these images available more widely appears to be legal
 and ethical - maybe even beneficial. They are a public archive of our
 history. That they were photographed by famous people is irrelevant. Those
 photographers knew what they were doing when they were working for the
 government.
 
 (The work I did in government was and remains public. In fact, the
 gathering and dissemination of information that helps guide the society was
 and remains the main point of some of the most important work I or other
 government employees do. If you're really into public service, it's just
 not about money. It's about making a better world. I think the
 photographers had that in mind when, for example, they helped publicize the
 plight of the depression dust bowl victims or the Japanese Americans in
 internment camps. This democracy can only correct problems if the voters
 know about them. Sorry about the OT editorial.)
 
 Paul
 
 www.PaulRoark.com <http://www.paulroark.com/> 
 
 _____ 
 
 From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
 [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob
 Michaels
 Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 1:48 PM
 To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
 Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Terrific article on Walker Evans in today's New
 York Times
 
 LOC specifically says these are not copyrighted and in public domain. 
 
 --- In DigitalBlackandWhit
 <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com>
 eThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Ken Carney"
 <kcarney1@...> wrote:
 >
 > AFIK the U.S. cannot assert copyright on its own works, so it should
 be OK
 > to sell them, in the U.S. at least. BTW I just downloaded a 174mb
 file from
 > the site, though as you say most are too small. In a number of
 cases they
 > have large tif files of scans from the original negative and the print
 > paired. Fascinating stuff indeed. 
 > 
 > > Jackson even earlier. That site is loaded with facinating stuff, but
 > > don't go trying to sell prints from these files. They belong to the
 > > American government. Like they said some of the files are too small
 > > and some are borderline usable. Some are jpegs and some are tiffs.
 > > I'm going to look more into it.
 > > 
 > > John
 >
 
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