As I tried to indicate in my last post, I was more flattered than upset about the unauthorized use of my photo for a pro-immigration rights billboard in Arizona. So it was especially encouraging and touching to receive a gracious and apologetic personal response from Mary Ellen Kazda, one of the billboard’s owners, with her side of the story, excerpted here with permission:

Dear Ryan,

I am the person who found and (together w/ my husband) chose a photo, belonging to you, for use on what we’ve named TMA (Triangle Message Art). I learned of you just today in a local AZ news story and I want to apologize for not being as careful as I ought to have been. I also want to express gratitude for your gracious and graceful statement to the press.

I found the photo by using google search for “immigrant families” and as I have told all press, to the best of my knowledge it was in the public domain. When I clicked “the family” it came up on the cover of a sort of newsletter(?) named “The Learning Community” and I read their terms of use because under the photo was “may be subject to copyright”. Believing the photo was theirs (no distinction was made between words & images) and that personal but not commercial reproduction was o.k., honest to God I thought public domain. I now know it was/is not and Frank (my husband) and I would like to pay you for its use. It was up for over four weeks on a 3×6 paper, sharing half that space with the odious words of Sheriff Paul Babeu. I’ll be happy to post a check or could use PayPal for whatever you think fair.

Having read your story at your site and having looked at a good body of your work, I’d like to let you know a bit of the back-story. The TMA is in a very public spot in our little town, the post office (major hub!) being adjacent to it. Frank and I have lived in Oracle since 1979 and the land (Triangle) was bought in partnership w/ a group of our friends back in the 80′s to keep it from being developed. The intention was always to welcome public use. It pretty much just sat there and over the years came death, divorce, moving away … all selling their share to me and Frank, and we have been sole owners for a long time. Years ago we built a ramada w/ picnic table for folks to sit at, a gazebo w/ little benches was built (close to ramada) in memory of two dead friends. Other than that there is a small hill that kids love to slide down when it snows. They even come from Tucson, an hour south.

We’d often muse about doing some sort of community bulletin board-ish thing but it was the passage of SB 1070 that inspired us to rally. We conspired w/ friends on design for a steel structure w/ flip up opening case to hold “message art”. We hired a local craftsman to fabricate the structure and the graphics are composed by local artist and friend. It’s debut was in early July, ” Happy Birthday U.S.A.” & those were letters cut from grocery (brown paper) bags by me. There have been four since that time. Not so much attention until …

Last Thurs. when our sheriff chose to issue press release to express “outrage” rather than phone a constituent (me or Frank), but that’s his MO and we do the best we can w/ it … & that’s another story. We felt the juxtaposition of his quote with your photo (there WAS another family photo prior but not as contemporary; it got no reaction from him) pointed to the danger of public officials painting w/ a broad brush and to how it only contributes to polarization & utter lack of civil discourse. The TMA had the effect of him wanting to distance himself from what he said. That’s a good thing. He’s been a darling of Fox News and is a lightening rod for “immigration issues.” He claims to be consistent in separating the wheat from the chaff. We know he isn’t. And we would like him to be, if not in his heart then at least in his public statements. …

Again Ryan, I’m sorry for my lack of attention to detail. … You made a beautiful and powerful picture of a family which has caused quite an amazing reverberation. I will continue to do my best to honor them and to compensate you in any way.

I’m not sure about my grammar in all the above or of how much of a light we may be able to shine on some ugly situations but I am sure that my faith, along w/ little visits from the Holy Spirit help to keep me on track and hopeful.

So, I gratefully accepted a modest token of payment for their use of my image, and have enjoyed receiving further updates regarding their efforts. Case in point, check out their latest billboard image—very compelling (click the image to enlarge):

So, despite my attempts to prevent unauthorized use of my photos, a slightly doctored version of one of my immigration rally pix showed up on an immigration activists’ billboard in Arizona. Unfortunately, their immigrant rights message got a bit sidetracked in controversy over the use of the image and the quote that accompanied it.

KGUN9 Tuscon contacted me to inform me that my photo was being used in this way after they tracked down the microstock version of it on Shutterstock. Here’s part of their report:

The family appears on what has become a controversial, even inflammatory billboard standing in Oracle, on private property.   It depicts a wholesome-looking Hispanic family of four on one side, and on the other, a quote from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, stating, “This is our most serious public safety issue and national security threat to America.”

The quote is seriously out of context.  But the billboard has accomplished what the owners wanted.  It has sparked national — and even some international — debate.  Despite accusations that its message is misleading, racist, and insulting, owners Frank Pierson and Mary Allen Kazda are standing their ground.

“This is message art and what we hoped was to get a message out,” said Pierson on Saturday.  “We didn’t expect this kind of responsiveness and find it actually quite encouraging.”

They say the sign is a statement against immigration policies in Arizona, and that it’s been up for four weeks.  In context, Babeu appears to be labeling the harmless looking family as a criminal or even terrorist threat.  But when Babeu uttered the words written on the sign several weeks ago, it was in the context of a general attack on a federal judge who’d issued a preliminary injunction blocking the most controversial aspects of SB 1070, Arizona’s tough crackdown on illegal immigration.

Apparently the billboard owners have since taken the sign down and replaced it with a new and clearer message (the Statue of Liberty and the slogan, “Nation of Immigrants”). But here’s my reply to KGUN’s email, for the record:

While I sympathize with the billboard owners’ desire to support immigrants’ rights—a cause I believe in strongly myself—this photograph is, in fact, my copyrighted intellectual property and is not part of the “public domain.” I’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt that the billboard owners found the image on a site that for whatever reason did not adequately cite this fact, and respect their decision to remove the billboard and replace it with a clearer message in support of our immigrant neighbors.

To see more of my immigration related photos being used with permission, check out Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Plus, links to galleries on the archive…

I’m still learning the happy medium between getting photos posted right away after an event, and doing a good job of retouching, keywording, and captioning at the same time. But I did want to get some posted on the Sojourners blog at God’s Politics, so here’s a link to that post. And here’s a slide show link. And here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

Every once and a while a microstock client actually lets you know they’ve published your photo. Another photo from the May Day immigration rally made it onto this site. Check it out.

I’m still churning through captions from my Middle East trip. I’ve finished 1,365 Lebanon captions, but am only about 1/5 through 2,138 Israel/Palestine photos for Mennonite Central Committee.

So it was nice to get a note from a Dreamstime client letting me know they used one of my shots from the May Day immigration march. Here’s a link to their article, titled, “Time for Immigration Reform is Now.” Amen!

Last Friday I took part in the DC manifestation of nationwide marches for immigrant rights. I tried to focus less on “protest” photos and more on capturing iconic shots of families—basically trying to have a more postitive focus and less of an angry or negative one. Here are a few of my favorites. Click here to see the full gallery.

I also have to say that this march had some of the best protest art I’ve ever seen. I love the America tree with world roots banner (above)—though it took me a while to notice that the roots were in the shape of world continents. Another highlight: super-cool neo-propaganda posters by Shepard Fairey (with help from Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha). Read more about how that came about at the Obey site. Here’s a sample: