It is 7.21am GMT, I am sitting at my desk in my Tony Soprano Dressing Gown reading all of this, & wondering why Diplomacy failed ha ha hah.

I had no idea of the depth of reaction from my post, & now I have seen another that I feel it neccessary to retort in some fashion.

Yes I am a 'Nice Guy' I do not like to bad mouth anyone, & where I can, I fly the flag of Diplomacy...after all one of my tag lines is 'Friend of Many & Foe of Few'. What I was trying to do is not defend Shepard as an individual, I was expressing the nature of the industry, as this has been going on for years.

& As for 'Artistic Editing', it is a sad nature of the game & I have already been on the receiving end of someone lifting my pictures for their own personal gain. So yes I know what it feels like & I have used that to make me better than the one who used my work & the others that will no doubt do so in the future.

But, having seem the Mat Gleason interview, I totally understand where he is coming from & I must say that I have been reducated, as I was a believer of the '100 year Old Idea, that Art can be anything'...see some reconditioning can be good. (Thank You for the Link very interesting indeed)

As for the Originators...if you worried about the plagiarists when you created your work, or the second after the seed of inpsiration had blossomed, then there would be no art or creativity at all. I believe & from my own experience, what does not kill you makes you stronger...better...really I do.

Plagiarism is constant in this business, & when I have to analynze all the Catwalks & Trends in High Fashion for the other Job, it makes me laugh how much of it is going on & all these Dahlings claim it to be their own idea. Do not get me wrong I am not condoning it, it is just a part of this existence that we tolerate & live with on a daily.

It is like when people come up to me & say, 'I love your work, you are a great photographer' I am embarrassed, Henry Cartier Bresson & David Bailey are Great Photographers...& I have to be honest, I emulate them at times. I would like to be as good as them...does that make me a Plagiarist if I am inspired by them & like their technique ? But I am embarrassed none the less, as I am nothing compared to them.

I hate to say, but when you have been in the business as long as me & have seen so many things, you become dull & void to all the bullshit. You see what is going on & it is only a reoccurence of some other situation that happened before with some one else, & that makes you a little jaded. Is that wrong I do not know.

I hope the comments continue as all of this is excellent stimulation & debate...this is why i got into this blogging in the 1st place, to stir conversation.

Be Well.

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