Photos, Copyright, and Independence

gallery of the winners from their 2006 competition. There are some incredible images there. I can't even link to the 'good ones', because there are so many there. Just start anywhere and look at them all.

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I went to the DC Copynight this week, for the first time, over at RFD in Chinatown. From their website:

CopyNight is a monthly social gathering of people interested in restoring balance in copyright law. We meet over drinks once a month in many cities to discuss new developments and build social ties between artists, engineers, filmmakers, academics, lawyers, and many others.

In general, it was a positive experience. The moderator referred to it several times as a "salon", which was a very apt description. The discussion was very intellectually-based. The people were fairly intelligent, (some of them consciously so). But it was very much a discussion group, with no thought, speech, or action given to remedying the problem they believe exists. It's a small group, that still seems to be trying to find it's feet. I'll definitely consider going back again next month. And maybe offer them advice on what seems to have worked for Refresh DC.

I did get to meet the man behind the Command Line podcast. We didn't really talk, but he seemed friendly. And listening to yesterday's podcast, he brought up my name, which made my skin crawl in self-consciousness.

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Observation:

Independent workers -- be they self employed or professional freelancers -- seem to be much less emotionally invested in their work than people employed full-time by a company or organization.

It's great when you can find people who are enthusiastic about a goal that's not their own, But by being emotionally involved with a project that they do not control, it leaves those people open to a lot of personal conflict.