Toshiyasu Morita is a cosplay photographer who paid to attend the Afro Comic Con, a non profit organisation who held the show at the SAE Expression College in Emeryville, California last October.
The show bills itself as an event that features ‘artists, writers, creators, and thinkers as we discuss representation in comic books, literature, film and television. AfroComicCon’s mission is to open doors for everyone in the arts and media professions that have not been adequately inclusive’ and is hosted by the Afrofuturism Network.
On Friday, Toshiyasu was contacted by Michael James from the show asking if they could photographs taken at the show, to promote the 2018 event. A not unusual or unreasonable request, especially as they stated that they would put his logo on the photos he used as well.
Although the line about ‘having an understanding’ about photos taken at the show might raise and eyebrow or two. And forshadowed what was to come.
Initially, the Afro Comic Con representative didn’t state which show he was representing. But that was quickl;y cleared up.
And so the discussion began. How the photos would be used? What resolution was available? That kind of thing.
How was still a little unclear, though one might presume it was to promote and advertise the next event. Toshiyasu made them clear that they would need the cosplayers in question’s permission as well as his. Which is again, completely reasonable. At this stage, everyone was in the same ballpark.
Or were they?
The show was now claiming that they already had permission from Toshiyasu and from any cosplayers who attended, via the forms people signed. So why ask permission in the first place?
Toshiyasu was very clear about the rights he was happy to grant the show, to use his photos to promote the show only.
And suddenly the lawyers were being cited. Now it seemed the show was saying it definitely didn’t need any permission and indeed they were able to set the terms, not Toshiyasu .
It’s not hard to mix up Afro Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con…
…when you look at the logos anyway.
But at this point, Toshiyasu decided to decline. And the show decided that he was no longer allowed to use the photos he’d taken at the show with cosplayers on his site
Wow. A slight over reaction? In that case what followed was even more so.
Well, since the show was going to share this info with other shows, Toshiyasu decided to do the same with his readers. And the social media explosion took place. Afro Comic Con representatives did their best to defend against criticism.
As the dialogue shows, he was more than happy with that. It was the talk of attorneys and lawyers that changed things. The show didn’t only ask if they could use the photos to promote the net show, Toshiyasu was most agreeable with that. It was the implication that they already owned his work, that they demanded he take down those photos from the site, that he would be banned from attending the show and that the show would try and get him banned from other shows, that people took exception to.
And, yes, this is no doubt a controversy that racist individuals and organisations would take advantage of in order to target a black-focused comic convention. But it doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a problem from the get-go as well. As a result, the show looked like it was going to ban all photographers.
(At the time, Toshiyasu had only posted the end of the conversation, he has now run it all.
It is worth knowing that all comic conventions attract photographers, and have photography policies for each event. It doesn’t seem as if there was anything in place that would have dissuaded Toshiyasu from attending as a photographer, indeed signage seemed to indicate that people attending at the show gave consent to be photographed, though Toshiyasu sought individual permission.
You can, of course, read the conversation above to decide how accurate this summation is.
Of course, many photographers are happy to use their high-end cellphones now. The next show will have to have some seriously restrictive entrance policies, akin to a press advance movie screening from five years ago.
Or they could have accepted Toshiyasu’s terms at the very beginning… which were as reasonable as the ones they also set out, too.
Comic conventions do have to watch out how they act and react online, as The Lakes, Rhode Island and Outlaw Comic Con can attest.
The post Afro Comic Con And Cosplay Photographer Discussion Went South Fast appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.
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