guest post by Aaron Muszalski
On his blog, UK-based web developer and hobbyist photographer Jeremy Keith recounts how a vacation photograph he took inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building came to be used in the 2008 blockbuster Iron Man.
Three minutes into the movie, there was my photo. It fills the screen.
The camera lingers over it while performing its best Ken Burns effect. Not only was Robert Downey Jnr. photoshopped onto the picture, Jeff Bridges was on there too! The Dude!! …On my picture!!! My Flickr pictures have been used in some pretty strange places but this must surely be the strangest …and the coolest.”
via Flickr blog
image via Jeremy Keith
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
How do you even know someone else is using your photo? You just happened to recognize it?
I swear I saw one of my images from Flickr appear in Religulous… It did not seem to be photoshopped in any way, though…
In his post Mr. Keith explains that the production company repeatedly contacted him seeking his permission. At first he ignored them, as he gets many such requests, and he figured that, were they interested enough, they would notice the cc license and realize that they didn't need any additional permission. It wasn't until they spoke him by phone that he realized the request was for a major motion picture.
I should also give a little further context here.
The photographer in question (a proudly self-described amateur) is very happy with the fact that his photo was used. He chooses to publish his images under a Creative Commons attribution license because he wants people to freely reuse his work (providing they give attribution) and he doesn't want the hassle of personally responding to scores of individual use requests. And even when he learned that the photo in question was going to be used in Iron Man, he declined financial compensation, believing that having his image used in such a cool context was reward enough.
Here is a comment Mr. Keith made in the Flickr comments for his photo:
“Thank you, DSK Saways. I think you summed it up nicely: “The money aspect of it simply pales in comparison to the fact that [my] photo is backing Jeff Bridges in a movie.”"
Cool thanks for filling me in!