How Plagiarism made me prove Henri Cartier-Bresson wrong!
So plagiarism is a hot topic of discussion around here on Steemit.com also like it was everywhere else for years. ie, older platforms like Flickr, livejournal, blogger etc.
I am a big achiever when it comes to plagiarism and I simply consider as theft. The reason is mostly its done by people who should be aware of ethics.
So here is my story.
I got a job & went ahead and bought a camera as soon as I can. And I went home. Met someone who used to take me around as a kid and took a photo of her. That was the next day after owning a camera.
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” ― Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB)
I whole heartily agree with HCB - the master of Candid Photography. Do I ?
Now what if someone steals your worst photograph and puts it as a magazine cover ?! What do you call them ?!
(They never even cared to respond or acknowledge.)
But here I am, a random guy on the second day with with own camera, breaking all conventional wisdom and logic on the cover page of a weekly/magazine. Can I say that I have been on the cover page with handful of my random snapshots ? Phew!!!
Few months passed & the monsoon (rainy) season has started and I walked around in my home town. Little did I knew that the result was going to be the following!
This time is a news paper in Gulf.
Time went by & an year or so later, I went to visit a relative and we cousins climbed a nearby hill & it rained. So, I took a random shot of my cousins and a relative trying to protect from rain.
I tried to edit the photograph. I couldn't - it was sharp, very poetic and I just uploaded it on flickr. Little did I knew about photography or photographers. It took me a decade or more to understand that I never took that picture and I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. The best way to describe is to quote Ansel Adams.
“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams
I did a photography exhibition of my work under the name Decisive Moments - A photo exhibition on the journey of self discovery (അനർഘനിമിഷങ്ങൾ - in Malayalam, my mother toungue) where every photo was a random accident with no involvement other than clicking the shutter from me. "When it Rains on the Mountains" was a major attraction which was by then seen by lots of people and they were surprised to learn that I was one who took the photograph and even more reluctant to believe that the photo was completely untouched and straight out of a point and shoot camera.
The reason was:
(Friends had found and kept alerting me about the incidents like this post here )
I hated it every time a plagiarist took my work, I never wanted money or even fame. But I hated stealing and I hated when someone stole from me. I fought with everyone who steal and the community rallied behind. There was quite a few victories as well.
As time went by, I think I started understanding few basics of photography and started looking into ritual arts. One of my favorite was Theyyam - which is an ancient ritual art form. I travelled to North Kerala everytime there is a Theyyam, roamed around, spend entire days chasing numerous Theyyams. I was very happy about the experience. So was many others.
The photography has become like the default image of Theyyam & I went ahead and released it under creative commons license and shared in Wikipedia as well.
I see some of the cool, appreciable uses as well:
In between, ie going after rituals and extreme events like Theyyam, Festivals with Oracles, Bull fight etc, I was fascinated with stage performances for a while.
Some were nice enough to showcase that phase of my self-discovery.
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When I say, my photographs are seen by not a few, not thousands, millions, some of the public ones like the ones are a proof. HCB - do you have anything to say about 10000 photographs now ? I apologize for sarcasm HCB.
Photo by : Mohanraj
So around this time, I was angry, I had my fights, legal case with plagiarists and I hated them ...
But it all changed when one of my closest friends called me said
"Why the hell is your feet all over place ?"
"I am not able to walk to my home peacefully as your feet is all over ...."
So she being the one I call "pickachu" 
(Apolitical foot photo used for political purposes - The foot-photo is from Bobinson Courtesy: Shekhar Menon )
There might have been incidents of plagiarism at varying levels, but one's own body part being plagiarized and me being no celebrity or porn artist this was the weirdest example.
I had the honor of having my feet all over a city of 5 million!
Initially I felt terrible, but then the thought of having one of those leeches using my feet to win an election was something of a victory. Normally we, the layman is at their feet and this was one of those very rare cases where a ordinary, non-saint had his feet being touched by one of those leeches. So I found peace.
I no longer worry about robbers who steal the hard work. I found peace.
footnotes
So here I am, a photography enthusiast with 3 solo exhibitions & millions of viewers who has helped me to defy the very definition of maestros. No, it doesn't make any proud. I feel helpless and thanks to you all the plagiarists - what you are doing when you plagiarise is not even stealing, you are performing and act of robbery. A crime, an act of extreme violence towards an artist's soul which leaves ever lasting scars.
Think Twice before being so mean.
References:
Photos are "shamelessly" copied from the below two links.
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/shajahanmoidin/2691319027/
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/shajahanmoidin/2692535960/
- Original title of this post was "A compilation of my Stolen Photographs"