Coming Attractions…

Every year at the onset, I feel fairly confident/hopeful that this will be the year that things fall in line, and I will be able to touch the satisfaction of what I perceive to be a fulfilling existence. “A fulfilling existence” in my mind consists of a certain criteria being met along specific points on a time-line, then expanded upon. It also relies heavily on the prevalence of a particular kind of euphoria generated by that criteria being met and expanded upon.

Like every other year, I had high hopes for 2010. Among other things, I had hoped to spend a greater amount of time in the woods alone, or laying in a field in the sunshine. More skating, swimming and some bicycling goes without saying, along with more training for Mr. Zigs and myself, and some Agility trials, and of course like every other year, I wanted to get my motor bike on the road. My bike needs some attention before it can be ridden, but not much.

Like many of the recent years, none of those things happened in 2010. Summer was stolen by October, and sacrificed to xmas. I did accomplish some things. I had my two paintings ready for the Canfield fair, as well as the literature that went with them. I created about a dozen bonsai trees, had a fairly successful garden, and made several batches of wine. I also tried for a fistful of art opportunities, ie; grants, awards, shows, a residency. I was accepted for a show and dumped for another, dumped for the residency, and am still hopeful for the grant. I spent a fair amount of time, and effort trying to meet deadlines.

I’ll be carrying all the same hopes into ‘11, while attempting to refine my game. Additionally I have several paintings in mind that I’d like to execute. Along with the ones I have in mind, I’d also like to acquire some new inspiration. I wish I had the sort of camera that would take particularly high quality photos, and the knowledge of how to use it. I only want to execute very high quality paintings based on my own photos/inspirations. I really want to do some, “Gothic” paintings, and stick my toe back in the pond of surrealism. I have had a series of, “Mini-sculptures” floating around my brain for quite some time now, and I always want to feel caught up on my jewelry, and am really hoping to get a pair of glasses that I can see out of.

Every year passes quicker like the frequency of a rubber ball bouncing ever more rapidly until it comes to rest. I look in the mirror, and at the faces of friends and family, and wonder how we found ourselves in this far-flung future. the time to make the best of it is now, because tomorrow they’ll be lowering us into the grave.
Happy New year!

What outraged Vogrin the most when I was being interrogated, was my answer to his question, “What legitimate reason would someone have for photographing a child that wasn’t their own at The Canfield Fair?” When I told him that I was an artist, and that I drew inspiration from the photos I take, he became quite indignant at the prospect of me profiting from photos taken of people at the fair. I tried very hard to explain to Vogrin slowly, and
in simple terms, that my motivation for the artwork I do isn’t profit, but to celebrate my subject. He simply couldn’t understand why anyone would create a work of art if it wasn’t for profit.

Profit, or not, can someone photograph a stranger in public? If so, is there a limit to what can be done with the image? This is something you should be interested in getting to the bottom of, because I’ll bet you have a camera, and it doesn’t matter if you intend to photograph a stranger or not, you could easily find yourself in the same situation as I did, or worse.

The Right of Privacy
There is no standard, spelled-out federal right of privacy, however there are provisions made to protect our right to privacy, usually found on a state to state basis, this is generally how it goes:
The right of privacy is restricted to individuals who are in a place that a person would reasonably
expect to be private (e.g., home, hotel room, telephone booth). There is no protection for information that either is a matter of public record or the victim voluntarily disclosed in a public place.” People are usually successful in calling upon The right of privacy in cases where they were photographed in the toilet, or their medical records were sold to someone. If one appears in public, like it or not, they can be photographed by a stranger. Vogrin tried to justify his actions by saying that The Canfield Fair is private property, and they can restrict people’s actions however they see fit. That’s abundantly apparent at this point, but again please consider that the fair is a very public event that openly encourages photography.

The Right of Publicity
Again, there is no standard, spelled-out federal right of publicity, but is dealt with on a state to state basis. Lets take a look at Ohio’s Right of Publicity in Individual’s Persona. Chapter 2741.01 (A) of The Ohio Code defines an Individual’s Persona as,” an individual’s name, voice, signature, photograph,
image, likeness, or distinctive appearance, if any of these aspects have commercial value” There are restrictions on what can be done with an individual’s persona in Ohio, for example, one can not print and sell t-shirt’s with LeBron’s likeness coming out of a horse’s butt, with a caption reading,
“LeBron is a piece of…”, However, someone could make and sell that t-shirt with my name and likeness. Why? Because my persona has no established commercial value. An interesting side note here is that one could paint a painting in Ohio showing LeBron and the horse, on account of Ohio Code
Chapter 2741.09 Exceptions to Ohio’s Right of publicity in Individual’s Persona. (A)1(c): ” Original works of fine art”.

Photographer’s Rights
We’ve looked at the the rights of Individuals appearing public, and the use of their persona, let’s look at Photographer’s rights. A photographer has a right to photograph anything that takes place in a public setting, this includes, but is not limited to:
accident and fire scenes
children
celebrities
bridges and other infrastructure
residential and commercial buildings
industrial facilities and public utilities
transportation facilities (e.g., airports)
Superfund sites
criminal activities
law enforcement officers
This right is protected under The First Amendment, Freedom of Expression. Once taken, that photograph becomes the copy-righted property of the photographer. Although anyone has the right to approach a person in a public place and ask questions about a photographer’s activities, persistent and unwanted conduct done without a legitimate purpose is a crime in many states if it causes serious
annoyance. You are under no obligation to explain the purpose of your photography nor do you have to disclose your identity except in states that require it upon request by a law enforcement officer. If the conduct goes beyond mere questioning, all states have laws that make coercion and harassment criminal offenses. The specific elements vary among the states but in general it is unlawful for anyone to instill a fear that they may injure you, damage or take your property, or falsely accuse you of a crime just because you are taking photographs. Private parties have very limited rights to detain you against your will and may be subject to criminal and civil charges should they attempt to do so. Although the
laws in most states authorize citizen’s arrests, such authority is very narrow. In general, citizen’s arrests can be made only for felonies or crimes committed in the person’s presence. Failure to abide by these
requirements usually means that the person is liable for a tort such as false imprisonment. Absent a court order, private parties have no right to confiscate your camera, or film. Taking your camera or film
directly or indirectly by threatening to use force or call a law enforcement agency can constitute criminal offenses such as theft and coercion. If someone has threatened, intimidated, or detained you because you were taking photographs, they may be liable for crimes such as kidnapping, coercion, and theft. In the event you are threatened with detention or asked to surrender your camera/film, asking the following questions can help ensure that you will have the evidence to enforce your legal rights:
1. What is the person’s name?
2. Who is their employer?
3. Are you free to leave? If not, how do
they intend to stop you if you decide
to leave? What legal basis do they
assert for the detention?
4. Likewise, if they demand your camera/ film,
what legal basis do they assert for the
confiscation?

Many Artists will only depict sterile, lifeless images devoid of real faces out of fear of being dragged into court. Likewise many Photographers practice a similar form of self-censorship. It could also be said that if one doesn’t want to be dragged to court because their dog bit someone, they shouldn’t own a dog. There are groups that are constantly, vigorously pushing to make pet ownership illegal, as well as a host of other rights we as Americans currently enjoy. Can you imagine what television, print, and visual arts who look like if were truly illegal to use an image of a person appearing in public? In the 80’s they started fuzzing out the face of people that wouldn’t sign a release.
The people doing the fuzzing, were big money media companies, who decided to side on safety; not out of fear of being sued and losing, but to avoid the entanglement of having lawsuits brought up. After 25 years of seeing fuzzed faces, the general public is under the uninformed impression that it must be illegal to show faces. To date, no artist has been successfully sued for using the likeness of someone in a public setting.

I’m ashamed to say that at the time I was attacked, and publicly humiliated, I was not fully aware of my rights. If I had been, things would have gone differently. As I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t care
for politics, or political paintings. I’d really rather create paintings that celebrate what’s good aboutAmerica, without having to rely on words and explanations. I’ve painted these two paintings pertaining to what happened to me in the hopes of raising your awareness of this issue. It’s an issue that becomes more relevant everyday, as most of us have a camera of some sort with us most of the time, and generally we feel free to take pictures at will, without fear of reprisal. It’s up to us to be aware of the attacks on our personal freedoms we enjoy as Americans that are taking place constantly on a variety of fronts.

Let me pause here, and tell you in a nutshell what, a photographer’s right is. It should matter to you, because I’m sure you’re a photographer. In this day and age, we all are. Nearly everybody has a camera on them at any given time, and are likely to take a photograph in public. In a nutshell, you have a right to photograph anything that takes place in public. If you are at a public event on private property, your rights remain in tact, as long as there is no posted photography policy. No police, or private security, have a right to question you, about your photography, let alone detain you, or touch your camera.

We met with Judge Jim Evans, Chief of Security at the fair, and Bev Fisher, Fair Manager. Evans started out by stating that I had, “caused quite a stir” that day, and how lucky I was that security had protected me from, “getting my ass kicked”. I asserted that I hadn’t done anything that day that thousands of others hadn’t done, and that I didn’t deserve to be attacked, let alone singled out, and punished while my attackers walked away. Evans said no one else pissed someone off by taking their picture. “Pissed off or not,” no one had the right to attack me for engaging in an activity that was encouraged by the fair, and then to be punished by the fair, was literally adding insult to injury” I said with a tone of irrepressible insolence. Evans told me that I was right, and that they had to thank me for bringing to light the fact that the fair has a long standing unwritten policy of not allowing photography. I told him that was absolutely ridiculous, especially considering their web-page stating, “We Want Your Photos”. He said that they had hired a P.R. Firm to do the website, and they’d have to do something about that. “That’s no excuse!” I replied angrily. Incidentally, as of  today, August 28, 2010, that page is still featured on their website. I suppose it was apparent that I wasn’t interested in being cordial. “Look, what do you want, what are we doing here?” Evans asked. “I want to be able to return to the fair
without fear of being jumped, or arrested for trespassing.” Evans smiled and said in a condescending tone, “You can come back to the fair, and enjoy yourself like anyone else as long as you don’t take anyone’s picture without asking them.” I replied that Vogrin had made me sign a paper stating that I had been notified that I was evicted from, and denied access to the fairgrounds property, and that failure to comply would result in charges filed against me, and that I would like that amended in writing, and signed by him (Evans). “I told you that you could come back to the fair, you won’t be arrested” Evans replied. “Then you won’t mind amending this, and putting your signature to it” I said. “I’m not signing anything, my word is good enough!” he replied, voice raised, “What else do you want?” “I have a constitutional right to freedom of expression-that includes creating an image through the use of photography, or other means without being attacked, detained or harassed. My rights have been infringed upon, and there are remedies available to me. Coercion, and harassment, are criminal offenses. It was unlawful for those people to instill a fear in me that they were going injure me, take and damage my property, and falsely accuse me of a crime just because I was taking photographs, and I have a right to know their names. No one had the right to inquire about the photos I had taken, let alone view, and delete them, without a court order, I offered in the hopes of defusing an ugly situation, look where it got me.” I said. “Your rights! Your rights! Look at ya, ya peace-lovin’… “Evans replied indignantly, and then caught himself. “If you were so concerned about your rights, and being attacked, why didn’t you press charges?” he asked. “I was never told that option was available to me, I wasn’t given the names of my attackers, I sincerely believed that the situation could have, and should have been resolved amicably for all parties involved at the time of the incident.” He told me, “That was your mistake, now what do you want?” “I would like the names of the people who physically attacked me.”He told me I would given them, but I never was. “Has John Vogrin been reprimanded for illegally acting on his ignorance of my constitutional rights?” “I’m sick of hearing about your constitutional rights.” Evans said. “If you’re not concerned with my constitutional rights, maybe you should consider a different line of work” I said. “Don’t worry about Vogrin, I’ve talked to him about this” Evans said. I can only imagine that conversation, I’m sure they had a good laugh. “John Vogrin reiterated his incorrect assertion publicly in an interview with The Warren Tribune Chronicle on September 8, 2009, I’ve worked hard to establish my public standing, through donations of my artwork to local charitable organizations, and participating in community art projects. This incident has hurt that standing. Are you willing to make a press-release recanting Vogrin’s assertion?” “We’re not recanting anything” he said with a smirk, “What else?”. “When they took my camera, they brought it back to me with the memory card removed. There was no reason to remove it, If the Canfield fair has copies of my copy-righted photographs, they must be destroyed.” Evans said he didn’t know anything about that, and asked what else I wanted. “I would like you to amend, and sign this eviction notice, for all I know, I’ll show up at the fair, and be arrested, because I don’t have anything in writing stating that I’m allowed back at the fair-grounds.” “How dare you call my integrity into question? I told you could come back to the fair, I’m not going to sign anything!” Evans shouted. “I guess we’re done here.” I said, and with that Nikki and I left.
After our meeting with fair officials, Bev Fisher, and Jim Evans, I will officially be allowed to return to the fair. I guess it’s official even though I couldn’t get anything in writing. Does that mean that it’s over, no harm, no foul? Not hardly. There was harm, and a foul. Vogrin challenged my first amendment right to freedom of expression. He asserted that a professional photographer or artist couldn’t capture the image of a person in public without that person’s permission, for their own profit, or otherwise. He made that assertion to me in private, and publicly in The Warren Tribune Chronicle article about the incident. This seems like a gray area for most folks, so let’s take a closer look at the issue.

Please join me tomorrow for what may or may not be the final installment in this story.