Day 1 of the Northern Voice blogging conference went swimmingly today. I spent the majority of the day in the big UN room learning all about copyright law (which is different from trademark law) as well as all kinds of technical and non-technical photography-related items. I took plenty of notes. Here are the things that stood out for me today:
1) Every photo you see in magazines is retouched in photoshop – including those Dove ads that promoted “natural women”. True story. They use the “healing” brush a lot for that as well as the “liquefy” tool – not to mention a whole lot of Gaussian blur – all located in Photoshop.
2) Just because something in regards to copyright is legal in the United States, it doesn’t mean it’s legal in Canada. I know. Very confusing. To add to the confusion, the laws are still out of date in relation to the internet so many times the legal answer to questions are still “it depends”.
Please note: this is not legal advice.
Martha Rans was the speaker for this Copyright & Online Expression talk and was very encouraging to artists who share their work on the internet. She told us all to keep sharing our work and not to be afraid, mainly. I think since having the IOC and Olympics experience earlier this year helped my understanding of of the copyright thing. She also mentioned the Artists’ Legal Outreach website. It looks like a good resource. I didn’t even know it existed.
Tomorrow we’re back at the conference for 9:45 for another full day of blogging and shmoozing.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Oooh it sounds like a very cool day! And those lectures about copyright would be super interesting and helpful- thanks for the link to the website- I’m going to check it out!
And thank you guys for that awesome photo- I wish I could have been there- next year I’m in absolutely even if I have to walk to get there- LOL!
Happy Saturday!!!
Hey! I know Martha! I hope you said Hi for me.. ; )
I am so glad you had fun. Sounds right up your alley. Ain’t it great to discover what you like and don’t like before digging in and doing it yourself. Saved energy!