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Via Powazek, I read that they’ve finally tracked down the photographer who took the picture for the now iconic Obama poster. It’s a funny story, because it turns out that the guy who took the picture, Jim Young, had been following Barack Obama around on his campaign, seeing his own work used over and over, without ever realizing it was his. So far, so good. Then there’s a comment from the designer, who made the poster, who says he found the image by doing an image search on Google.

Hold on. What? The designer stole the image?

Don’t get me wrong, I love the poster. Shepard Fairey, who designed it, did a very good job from a creative point of view. But there’s a problem with the whole plucking an image off of Google, then using it commercially without permission thing. These things happen all the time of course, but we are talking about a poster that was used massively throughout Obama’s campaign here. Not just some kid who stole a photo for his MySpace page. Am I really the only one, who thinks this is wrong? Effectively stealing someone else’s work to help get a man elected president seems shifty at best, and honestly, I think it casts a shadow over Obama’s victory.

What does it say about Obama’s view on artist’s rights, when he allows something like this to happen? He probably didn’t know, I hear you saying, and he probably didn’t. But ultimately it is his campaign and therefore his responsibility. As a leader, he should step up and make sure his staff plays by the rules. And when they don’t, it is his responsibility to act on it.

Jim Young is honored that his photo was used for the poster. I would be too, no question about it. He also seems willing to let it slide, that it was used without permission. I can understand that, especially if he’s an Obama supporter himself. But there’s also the issue of precedence here. If “borrowing” a photo without asking is okay in this case, it provides an excuse for other designers to do it as well. If the president could do it in his campaign, it must be okay for me too, right?

Wrong. It is not okay. Jim Young should be compensated for the use of his work, as any photographer should. And the argument that the photo was tweaked during the design process is flawed. Designers tweak/trace/alter photos all the time, but they still have to pay the photographer who took the pictures to begin with. I won’t be able to look at Fairey’s poster anymore, without thinking that a stolen photo helped spread the message of hope and change. Not much hope in that for us creative people.

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