this is one of my favorite photos. i shot it several years ago when i was learning about depth of field. a large print of it is hanging on my wall. i saw it this morning (well, an over-saturated photoshopped version of it) on pinterest and it was credited to a tumblr site. i followed the link and saw that the tumblr site credited it to a blogger that was not me. that site no longer exists. i then noticed that the photo was reblogged to about 212 other sites from the tumblr site. before i stopped myself, i saw that some of those sites gave no credit to the photo or even implied it was their own.
deep breath.
and another.
just the other day i thought, "get over yourself" when another blogger was complaining (again) on facebook about her photos being inaccurately credited.
so i am now saying it to myself:
get over yourself.
let it go.
detach.
the subject matter of the photo is perfect for this challenge. whenever i begin to study buddhism, my eyes start to glaze over when we get to the part about non-attachment. i like my things. i like my people. i like my ideas. i am not a good sharer. (just ask ken about the big bowl of popcorn that is mineminemine and get your mitts outta the bowl.) quite the lesson for me, right?
i realized that tracking down every single blog that posted my (um, the) photo was fruitless and a little stupid. i realized that the wild possessive streak that was heating up my body was quite ugly. i realized that buddha (even a miniature manufactured buddha) does not belong to me.
i realized that the image gives peace and happiness and color and joy to so many people who i will never know, who will never visit my blog and who may need to see it at just the right moment.
do i really need to be credited with that? it would be nice, but it's not necessary.
i'm over myself. it feels weird. in a good way.
and yes, i realize that this blog post is staking claim to the image. baby steps.
p.s. i still believe the kindest, most-likely-way-to-produce-good-karma thing to do it to ask permission and/or properly credit photos, especially when they are from someone who makes their living from their photography.
