Man is upset about how his photo was used?

FlyNavyFlyNavy Registered Users Posts: 1,350 Major grins
edited February 4, 2012 in Mind Your Own Business
An overweight man in Los Angeles says he was "beyond shocked" to discover an altered photo of him on New York City billboards with his leg removed.



http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/actor-beyond-shocked-ad-altered-leg-appear-amputated-173035069.html


27-year-old Cleo Berry tells the New York Times that while living in NYC several years ago, he participated in a $500 photo shoot with photographer Morten Smidt. Unbeknownst to Berry, those photos were then sold to ImageSource, a stock photo company.
The stock photo was then sold to New York City's Department of Health, who digitally altered the photo to remove Berry's right leg and is using the photo as part of an anti-diabetes campaign.




:dunno

Comments

  • IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2012
    Umm . . . he got $500. He signed a release. Maybe he didn't read it. deal.gif He's an actor. What? Did he think they were just going to let him play himself? If he's worried how this might affect his acting career, imagine how interested any potential agents might be in him now that he's demonstrated what a whiner he is.
    John :
    Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
    D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2012
    Icebear wrote: »
    Umm . . . he got $500. He signed a release. Maybe he didn't read it. deal.gif He's an actor. What? Did he think they were just going to let him play himself? If he's worried how this might affect his acting career, imagine how interested any potential agents might be in him now that he's demonstrated what a whiner he is.

    What the IceBear says X3
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  • GlortGlort Registered Users Posts: 1,015 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2012
    The real issue is he's pissed because he now thinks he should have got a lot more and realizing his mistake and there is nothing he can do about it, He's having a cry.
    Of course the media exposure won't exactly hurt him and he probably thinks if he makes a big enough fuss someone might give him some more money to shut up.

    When you see he says he cried at his computer screen for a minute when he saw the shot. you know he's a bloody pansy anyway.
    He took the money which no doubt he was glad to get, he signed the release, Take a teaspoon of concrete and harden the hell up!
  • IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2012
    Glort wrote: »
    Take a teaspoon of concrete and harden the hell up!

    +1
    You said it better than I did.
    John :
    Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
    D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
  • deb22deb22 Registered Users Posts: 428 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2012
    I don't know guys, If he's mad about the money-tough luck- But if he is upset about his career being affected he is dead on. I have no right arm and partial left and if I send out feelers with just some samples I have no problem BUT when I meet in person it becomes a problem with some and I have actually been asked [on more than 1 occasion] to PROVE it is me who took the shot. If I was a wedding photog I would be in deep trouble. If he is an actor headshots are the rule and if his pic gets well known he won't even get through the door and have an opportunity to explain the photoshop crap.
    COUNTRY ROADS ARE NATURES HIGHWAY. http://dafontainewildlife.com
  • Moving PicturesMoving Pictures Registered Users Posts: 384 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2012
    deb22 wrote: »
    I don't know guys, If he's mad about the money-tough luck- But if he is upset about his career being affected he is dead on. I have no right arm and partial left and if I send out feelers with just some samples I have no problem BUT when I meet in person it becomes a problem with some and I have actually been asked [on more than 1 occasion] to PROVE it is me who took the shot. If I was a wedding photog I would be in deep trouble. If he is an actor headshots are the rule and if his pic gets well known he won't even get through the door and have an opportunity to explain the photoshop crap.

    Then he shoulda done some thinking before he signed his photo release, eh?
    Newspaper photogs specialize in drive-by shootings.
    Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
  • sweet carolinesweet caroline Registered Users Posts: 1,589 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2012
    If he is an actor headshots are the rule and if his pic gets well known he won't even get through the door and have an opportunity to explain the photoshop crap.[/QUOTE]

    Umm... except he would not have become well known for a photo like this had he not said anything, so it should not have impacted his career. And if he's an actor, he would be going to auditions, where they would see his true appearance. It may have had an emotional impact. He may feel that his photo should not be altered drastically without his knowledge. But it would be silly to think it would hurt his career.
  • DemianDemian Registered Users Posts: 211 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    Not familiar with ImageSource, but I thought most stock agencies have a requirement that buyers cannot use photos in certain offensive ways? (Usually anything from photoshopping a SS uniform on someone to simply making a political endorsement). I'd say this falls well under it.

    And luckily, they gave him a disability that is easily enough disproven. What if the health campaign had been for AIDS? When signing a release, you're taking some risks, but does that mean there should be billboards all over New York announcing you're HIV positive? That would be a horrible thing to do to someone. (Now that I think about it, I wonder if this has actually happened to anyone :X)


    So yeah, I think the city messed up by grabbing someone with a generic model release. If you're going to make someone the face of a public health campaign, they deserve to know what they're getting into.


    EDIT:

    One last thing I wanted to add is this kind of activity is really bad for photographers, too. Most stock photography is used for relatively inconsequential stuff. It only makes it harder and more expensive to get model releases if people think they're going to get amputated on a NY billboard.
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 1, 2012
    Never mind cutting off his leg, they cut off half his head! eek7.gif

    Berry.jpg

    Seriously though, I doubt anybody could recognize him from this photo unless they were told it was him.
  • orljustinorljustin Registered Users Posts: 193 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    Demian wrote: »
    Not familiar with ImageSource, but I thought most stock agencies have a requirement that buyers cannot use photos in certain offensive ways? (Usually anything from photoshopping a SS uniform on someone to simply making a political endorsement). I'd say this falls well under it.


    It's hardly offensive.

    As stated and restated across the internet about this attention seeking whiner, he signed a release that allows this sort of thing - incorporating or modifying the image in a digital illustration. So, wahhhh.
  • IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    Yeah. I wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup of overweight dark-complexioned men. ne_nau.gif
    John :
    Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
    D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
  • DemianDemian Registered Users Posts: 211 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    he signed a release that allows this sort of thing

    This has been stated several times, so I'll rephrase: What is legal isn't necessarily what is right.
  • IcebearIcebear Registered Users Posts: 4,015 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    Demian wrote: »
    This has been stated several times, so I'll rephrase: What is legal isn't necessarily what is right.

    He. Took. The. Money.
    John :
    Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
    D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
  • orljustinorljustin Registered Users Posts: 193 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2012
    Demian wrote: »
    This has been stated several times, so I'll rephrase: What is legal isn't necessarily what is right.

    What is not "right" about it?
  • jrogersjrogers Registered Users Posts: 79 Big grins
    edited February 3, 2012
    It seems like it's one thing sign a release for a modeling session, and quite another for the end users to distort the image of the person in an unnatural way...I think photoshopping a leg off constitutes distorting the image.

    They probably should have sign an additional agreement other than a standard release.

    Just my $0.02
  • GlortGlort Registered Users Posts: 1,015 Major grins
    edited February 4, 2012
    Icebear wrote: »
    Yeah. I wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup of overweight dark-complexioned men. ne_nau.gif

    Exactly.
    The image doesn't have the guys name on it from what I can see either.

    To me this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. The more famous/ well known an actor/ model is (for whatever reason) the more they can command for assignments.
    Here we have a guy trying to improve his worth without actually having any improvement in his talent.

    I'll say this, as a shooter that hires talent on behalf of clients, there is no way I'd hire this guy because I'd consider him a pathetic whinger and a trouble maker.

    As for saying the image is altered in an offensive or un natural way, the only thing I see offensive about it is how offensive that type of statement is to people whom are really missing limbs.
    Funny, I have a minor amputation and diabetes and I can't see why this whinger has anything to gripe about.

    Maybe this pansy should spend a week in their shoe and then see who's got something to bleat about. :boid
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