Paris Parfait

Observing Easter

An exterior section of Antonio Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia Basilica, Barcelona, Spain. Click to view detail.


A "portal of the angel" street in Barcelona.


“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith.” - Paulo Coelho, Brida.


“There are only three great puzzles in the world: the puzzle of love, the puzzle of death and - between each of these and part of both of them - the puzzle of God. God is the greatest puzzle of all.” - Niall Williams


“The longer I live, the more uninformed I feel. Only the young have an explanation for everything.” - Isabel Allende

Greetings from the Netherlands! On this Good Friday, the sun has made brief appearances, but now it's snowing! Seems more of this endless Northern European winter awaits, no matter the calendar.

Hope you and yours have the happiest of Easter celebrations, with hints of glorious spring!

Has it come to this??!!

Nearly every day I find numerous instances of my copyrighted photos "pinned" on Pinterest without permission. One photo had been "repinned" 43 times! Even worse, numerous images that have nothing to do with me are erroneously listed under my blog's domain name. And a British company hijacked my photograph found on Pinterest - therefore in their perception, free - for an advertising/promotional campaign.

I installed the "do not pin" code on my website and deleted my 500px and Tumblr accounts because I couldn't stop photo theft. And in a series of conversations, I've asked Pinterest to block all incoming images linked to my domain names and do a better job informing its users of copyright issues. At the top of my blog's sidebar I specifically request that my photos not be copied or "pinned." I've written several blog posts about why I do not want even a single photo on Pinterest, a site for which I receive no benefit whatsoever. Yet still this problem persists. Am I going to have to plaster every photo with "Do not pin" and/or a copyright notice??!!

Not that you'd notice with all the annoying "Do not pin" reminders, but this is a photo of a 19th-century door with a copper Arts & Crafts letterplate in Sevilla, Spain.

Echoes

The Audubon Room, rue Dauphine, French quarter, New Orleans © Tara Bradford. Click to view detail.

The architecture, the car, the history: echoes of another era...

"Really, each era has its own false nostalgia. We all put a picket fence up around something. For my generation it was the '50s and for other generations it will be something else. Change is scary for everyone, as is complexity, contradiction and an uncertain future." - Gary Ross, film director

Somewhere it's spring...

...but not here and not now. Bone-chilling winds still rattle the windows, blow open the letter flap in our front door and snap branches off trees. But at least we don't have snow at the moment...

I'm tired of winter; tired of hospitals and doctors' offices and exhausted from stress. I'm increasingly exasperated at the amount of time and effort required to address multiple instances of copyright infringement and photo theft. As though it's not enough that every week dozens of my photographs continue to be "pinned" on Pinterest against my wishes, a British company has used my photo in an advertising/promotional campaign! Such thoughtless behaviour and lack of respect for other people's work is trying my patience and good will. Consequently, I'm finding it difficult to remain enthusiastic about blogging or social media.

No doubt my usual optimism will prevail, as the ice melts and spring blossoms appear. Meanwhile, I've filled our salon with cymbidium orchids and odd plants. I'm reading Linda Gordon's book Dorothea Lange: A Life beyond Limits and planning household renovations. I'm also working on a photo project and mapping out travel later this year. So the moody blues soon will be banished!

Wherever you are, hope you find some signs of seasonal renewal to brighten your day.

Photo of a shepherd tending his flock in Madaba, Jordan, © Tara Bradford.

Timeless

Petra, Jordan photo © Tara Bradford. Click to view detail.

 

 "...Match me such a marvel, save in Eastern clime,
A rose-red city half as old as Time."

Popping in from the sterile, colourless environment of hospitals and doctors' waiting rooms to say hello. Hope all is well with you and yours. Back soon with regular postings and a blog design revamp.

Excerpt from the poem Petra by Dean Burgon.

Trésor parfait

Gold pendant, found in a 1920s sewing chest from a Paris atelier. Photo © Tara Bradford from the photographic series Trésor parfait.

 

If you're in Paris later this month, you'll have the chance to find your own perfect treasure. My favourite brocante at Chatou begins March 15th and continues daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through March 24th.

The 86th Foire Nationale aux Antiquites a la Brocante et Produits du Terroir (affectionately known as "the Brocante and Ham Fair") is a popular showcase for more than 800 vendors offering many of France's much-admired antique and vintage furniture, housewares, art and decorative items and curiosities. You'll also find delicious hams and other treats to take home.

Be sure and visit my friend Blandine Bavoux's Jolie Trouvaille stand at 8 rue de la Gaite. She has fantastic enamel coffeepots, tiffins and other vintage delights to add charm and character to your home. My own kitchen has quite a few of Blandine's cherished collectibles.

Tickets for Chatou are available at the gate. From Charles de Gaulle Etoile metro, take the RER A1 train (direction Saint-Germain-en-Laye) to Rueil-Malmaison or Chatou-Croissy. For the latter, follow the signs at the exit and walk across the bridge to Ile de Chatou. Or, if you exit the station at Rueil-Malmaison, a petit train will take you by land to the main entrance at Pont de Chatou.

Hoppy hunting! If you're traveling and can't attend this event, you'll have another opportunity this fall. The 87th Brocante and Ham Fair is scheduled September 27th through October 6th.

The continuing saga of keeping photos off Pinterest

Once again, there are dozens and dozens of my photographs on Pinterest, all pinned without permission. What part of "DO NOT PIN" do people not understand??!! On this blog and on Twitter, I've written several pieces/tweets about why I do not want my work on Pinterest. It is annoying - not to mention time-consuming - to provide individual links for every single photo pinned without permission, so that Pinterest will remove them.

I realise that most people probably "pin" my photos with the best of intentions; they don't realise they're violating photo copyright (although as I've said before, Pinterest needs to do a better job of educating its users about copyright). But one photo I found today on Pinterest proved an exception to the "pin without malice" theory. The woman who pinned this particular photo knew full well she did not have my permission - but she did it anyway.

This woman is neither a photographer nor a lawyer, yet seems to consider herself an expert on copyright issues. I don't "follow" her on Twitter, but a few weeks ago, she started sending me messages about photography copyright. (Why she singled me out, I have no idea). She was remarkably ill-informed and over the course of a few days, I tried to have a polite and civil exchange with her. Finally I had to block her, as she wasn't interested in reason or actual facts about copyright.

Today I discovered this woman defiantly "pinned" one of my Paris photos (see screenshot below), knowing she had no right. Beneath my photograph, her caption read, "The photographer who took this photograph does not OWN this street or any of the buildings on it." Uh, no, but I DO own the copyright to the photo. And you, Ms. So-and-So (I'm too polite to publicly shame you) are violating copyright law!

I have reported her to Pinterest. And I'm confident that Pinterest will remove that copyrighted photo, as well as all the others pinned without permission.

But please, please, please, all you fans of Pinterest, think before you "pin." If you don't know the original source of the photo, don't use it! Ask permission before using someone else's work. Wouldn't you expect the same courtesy if someone wished to post your work on a free-for-all public site??

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