People, Art and Smartphones: Just when you thought you'd seen it all!
Somehow, we have managed to make our way to the holiday season.
Being a brick-and-mortar art gallery/gift shop — as well as a Steemit blog — we get to see a little of this and that, here at the Red Dragonfly.
From time to time, I have written about the bane of many a gallery proprietor's existence in this day and age... specifically, that most of our visitors tend to enjoy the art, then take lots of smartphone photos of the art, and then leave empty-handed.
"Poppy"
Now I can empathize to some extent when it comes to orignal art priced in the thousands of dollars... but a little less so when it comes to $30 prints (reproductions), given that the entire purpose there is to make these prints affordable to a wider audience.
So Just When You Thought You'd Seen it All
A few minutes ago, this reached yet another level when I noticed a couple of women extensively photographing our art greeting cards.
Really?
You're actually going to photograph $3 cards, rather than just buy them?
It made me think about another "incident" from a couple of weeks back: We do have little "original art/copyright" signs up around the store, and we have a donation jar for people, suggesting that if all they want is to photograph the art, please consider making a small donation to our independent artist support fund.
"First National Bank"
So this lady saw one of the signs, next to our donation jar... she exclaims: "Oh, what a darling idea!" whips out her phone, takes a picture of the donation jar and sign, and leaves without contributing.
At times like these, I'd really rather just blog about art, rather than try to sell it to people!
Hope you are having a marvelous weekend... and thanks for reading!
Red Dragonfly is a proud graduate through the @sndbox creative incubator program, part of the "Cohort 1" team of May 31st, 2018. Please support @sndbox and the @sndbox-alpha curation initiative!
The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.
2018.12.01
What about "No Photography" signs with the copyright signs? That might deter at least some of the people from taking photographs.
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We've done that, but it didn't seem to make much difference... except for the people who wanted to take us to task for it being "tacky" and "douchey." We have pretty much come to realize that we live in an era where everything is considered "public domain."
truly amazing! I know this exactly what you are speaking of! I had a very similar experience last night with the 2 gals I did my "free" sigils for "tips" for - we had an amazing experience and they sent me $3 on paypal. Wow!!! I almost wished they had not even left me anything... If I were you I would have ONE day a week where no photography is allowed and see how that goes over - I mean - this is why I want to give partial proceeds of my work that has animal images toward the animal - because it seems to me that I am stealing the spirit of the animal by using it's picture without making any effort toward helping the environment... same with you - are not these people actually SHOP LIFTING the images by just taking pictures of them? I have seen stores that do not allow picture taking - time to take a stand against the tyranny of sumthin for nuthin!
Wow, that's quite an experience! I guess any manner of consciousness is sadly lacking, in most folks. My wife is a psychic intuitive (and one of the best in the US) and she's constantly surrounded by people who want readings but feel that what she does "should be free."
This from someone who has been on national TV and radio and used to be booked solid 3 days out at $6.99 per minute on a psychic hotline. Go figure... everyone does seem to want something for nothing.
wow... yea the times are amazing that we are in. Especially here in Denver where most people have the cultural knowledge of a flea. I wish sometimes that I had stayed living in Woodstock, NY. I had to move for other reasons and I would probably not be alive today if I had not moved, but to be an artist and sell art HERE is a sham. Is your wife on steemit? Yea that is incredible but I believe it. I recently was talking with someone in my "spiritual" community about sigils - the person suggested I teach a class in sigil-making rather than buy a sigil-painting from me - of course they simply need to "google" it and figure it out for themselves but instead they want ME to spend my time teaching them how to do what I have a gift to do... that which I have spent 2 years perfecting - they want me to hold their hand and tell them things that make them feel good...sad. Being an artist these days, I don't know. I just feel like it is my calling. I know I help people and I just have continually trust that all will be provided for me - but not expect too much.