To sign or not to sign, that is the question

AlyZen Moonshadow

AlyZen Moonshadow

MobiLurver
Mobi Veteran
I don't think of my iPhone images as Photography, rather I consider them Art. At the suggestion of several people, and to protect the ownership of my images, I digitally sign my work with a "(c) AlyZen Moonshadow" on the bottom right or left corners, either in black or white, depending on the colours of the image. I use the app "Impression" for this. To date I've used 3 different fonts; each font could be seen to symbolise a different phase in my iPhone Art development.

A Gallery has several of my images in an exhibit. I was surprised when it recently, after putting up my images, asked me to remove my signature from the images! If this was Traditional Art (as in Oils or Watercolours etc) that would have been unheard of. But iPhoneography? Of course there are arguments that a signature detracts from the image, there are also arguments that it adds value etc ... But for me it's there as a stamp to say "I made this" and as a warning to others not to infringe. Bearing in mind iPhoneographs are digital and therefore any signatures or copyrights or watermarks will be digital - there's no "back of the image" to sign on.

What should my response be to the Gallery? Should I stick to my convictions, or should I, for the sake of getting into an exhibition, send my images in unsigned? I would be grateful for your thoughts, many thanks! :)
 
Just to add: in its Call for Artists, the Gallery in question made no mention that works had to be unsigned, or that any signed works had to have the signatures removed. It is now saying that "its a collective exhibition, so signatures are not allowed".
 
I don't see why it's a problem, not if it's not going to distract from the image. I really don't appreciate big watermarks through the middle etc. Maybe you could post one of your signed images so we can see the signature. I myself would probably attempt to have the gallery leave it in place, maybe go and argue the fact that the whole point of the display for you is that the visitors are made aware of your work. Are they selling images on your behalf?
 
Hi John, thanks for your thoughts on this. All my images are finished off with my signature, even the ones here on MobiTog. I place the signature & copyright sign at the bottom right or bottom left of the image, eitht in white or black. Check my images here "The Magic Faraway Tree", "Rare View", for example. The gallery received the images electronically and put them up on an iPad to display as a slideshow. Three days into the exhibition, they turned round and asked me to send them unsigned images. I declined, so instead they've taken my images off their exhibition :-/
 
Their loss! your work is excellent. I would have said that I would not display my work without a signature. I didn't want to influence you as it may have meant a lost opportunity.
 
Thanks John :). I'm sure there will be other exhibitions and galleries that respect the artist's principles. Do you have your iPhone images on display at any exhibition or gallery?
 
I sort of lost my way with the iPhone and got back into my DSLR :eek: But I am now inspired by the simplicity of uploading to mobitog 2.0 and your excellent recommendation for Magic Hour so I may be around for some time to come. I haven't any iphone photo's in any exhibitions in fact have never got as far as printing any iphone images yet. I think Magic Hour could make me change my views on this though.

I did get one of my images accepted into FIAP's and I am an active camera club member. Maybe I will try to sneak an iPhone photo into one of their competitions soon :)
 
And why not? I've heard of a few people winning photo competitions where the jury had no inkling the image came from an iPhone, until afterwards. Either the iPhone is very good, or the other entrants were very bad?! ;-)
 
Agree.. We have a major national competition over here for a TV program called Country File. 12 winners get into a calendar, this years entry that won outright was taken with a point and shoot :eek: all those photographers beaten with their thousands of £££ of equipment :rofl:
 
Hiya Aly, we're talking P1xels are we?

If so Mr Bronson has a rather unique approach and has left me wondering on more than one occasion!

Personally I suppose it depends how principled you want to be? I see nothing wrong with exhibiting unsigned works, as long as the name is either displayed tastefully alongside the image or, at the very least, in a classy catalogue!

I suppose it also depends on the exhibition and type of exposure you are after as well - missed opportunities will never be regained!

The long and the short is, signed or not, you own the copyright and no-one can take that from you, as long as you are identified as the artist pre, during and after the exhibition it should not be a problem! If you are not identified, then it is probably not the kind of exhibition you would want to be associated with anyways! Find another... :)

I am a real fan of your work in the very short time I have been aware of it Aly - whatever you do with it is your choice but as many people as possible should be given the opportunity to see such wonderful work and excellent iPhoneography!

We are pleased to count you among our community members and happy to show your work to the world from MobiTog... Signed or not... :D

Sent by iP4 using MobiTog's awesome app!
 
Hi Roger, it's not Pixels, no this is a true flesh-n-blood gallery in Florida USA called Studio b.the beach. The images are displayed on iPads, in an installation of 40 iPads placed in a 10x4 grid. There are 40 iPhoneographers featured. I've looked at the publicity images put up by the gallery, there is no card stating whose work is on which iPad, so would think the only places the individual artists could be given credit is at the end of the revolving slideshows, or on a separate poster nearby. Personally I felt the format was too gimmicky, yes putting 40 iPads so close together is a novel approach but it only serves to generate a wall of colour to the viewer...you can only cram so many peoplein front of the installation at one time, and the eye would get confused being bombarded by so many images.

I'm not too concerned at the moment about copyright infringement (ask me again when I'm world famous LOL!). However, I consider my iPhone Art just that - Art, so to be asked to remove my trademark signature is kind of like an Artist being asked to paint over his/her Oil painting!
 
Seems that if there are that many ipads on display then they are just ripping the artists off to fill their walls with your work. Still wondering if you get any revenue from this in any shape or form? If not it would seem this artwork is for their benefit alone :shrug:
 
Im with Mr Venomator on this one - they are displaying YOUR art, and YOU should be recognised as the person who made it. Whether that be via a title placed next to each piece, or a graphical signature over the piece itself.

I can see where the gallery are coming from in asking you to remove - they are probably doing it to create a uniformity of presentation amongst all the galleries content. The issue of copyright will be debated far into the future but IMHO, there is less of a need to (c) pictures that are going to be printed for a physical gallery than those which are displayed online and can easily be taken.
 
Thanks for your support, guys, much appreciated! To answer your question John, no there is no revenue to be had from this exhibition, just the exposure, though one could argue that in that Wall of Colour display it would be very hard to take in any one individual image, so you're all probably right, the gallery is doing this for their own publicity rather than in the interest of promoting the field of iPhoneography.

There was some mention of "winning" works being put into a commemorative book after the event, though, in the absence of voting or adjudication, whether by peers or a Jury, I'm not sure how one could "win" an entry into aforementioned book? The information provided by the gallery was very vague; also, if the works had to be unsigned they should have said so in the first place, instead of wasting everyone's time?! The reason given by the gallery was for the sake of uniformity, as apparently I was the only one of the 40 who signs my work. Hey, I can't help being ahead of my time ;-)
 
:lmao: ...if there's money in it Mr Milton will be there, or thereabouts... :cool:
 
AlyZen Moonshadow said:
LOL why the tiny font, Mr Gilbert? :-P
Click to expand...
Interesting, that is Ms Moonshadow... :alien:

The fonts from various posts all looks to be about the same size to me and unless emphasising some text it is just the default size to me... :confused:

I will have to set our Techspert on it... :cool:

Just out of interest ... are you seeing this line in a different size then... :D
 
Personally I can't stand them, it's one of my pet hates perhaps because I have a couple of real life friends who are rubbish and just starting out in photography with SLR or whatever it is and use it, bit just watermarking there Images but badly doing it with horrible signatures.

I can understand it and why some people do it but I just don't think there Is any need.
 
Very interesting debate. I've never heard of a gallery bringing in such a rule during the run of a show.

In the dear old days of prints and negatives all such copyright information was put on the back of any print supplied for sale or display. This ensured that all parties knew who owned the work. It is, of course, more difficult in the digital age and sometime attempts to sign or mark a work can look mechanical and detract from the subject. However, I would have thought that any reputable gallery or exhibitor, on receiving your work, would have given you some form of paperwork that listed your material and acknowledged all copyrights and ownerships.

I think, until iphoneography establishes a reputation as a valid art form, it will be subject to people treating it as a throwaway culture not subject to the normal practices of the art world.
 
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