Seth Godin RSS feed: Taking photographs vs. giving photographs

[RSS FEED-from consistent personal brands]

My RSS Feed, Seth Godin, is a Thinker and Has Just Posted the Following:

Things flip.

Many cultures long viewed photographs with fear, worrying that a piece of the soul disappeared when a photo was taken.

Today, celebrities hire publicists who have no other job but to get their photographs to appear in print.

Oprah doesn't pay authors to appear on her show, they pay publicists for the privilege... even though they are "giving away" all the ideas in their book for free.

It's a tricky line to walk. Perhaps this pastry shop on Rodeo Drive is concerned that competitors will take photos of all the pastries and then copy them. Of course, all the competitor has to do is buy a pastry, so I'm not sure that's a real problem. Some museums forbid all photography, even without a flash, for no other reason than fear. Clearly a famous painting is worth more than an unknown one--and just as clearly, the artist who painted the image probably wanted other people to see it.

This is a hard flip for people to make. Largely it's about control. It's your pastry, after all. A long time ago, bakers gave up trying to stop people from taking free smells of their labor. I wonder if they benefit by letting people (begging people) to take free photos?




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