Thanks, Darren. You have raised enough doubts in my mind that I'm now going to quiz my relative about it. Gently. :)
On Wed, Sep 10, 2014 at 11:51 AM, Darren Addy <[email protected]> wrote: > Bruce, regarding your brother-in-law's situation, I have taken the > liberty of submitting a question: > http://ask.metafilter.com/268234/Inheritance-Tax-on-estimated-value-of-photo-negatives-left-behind-WUTT > It will be interesting to see if any expert answers are submitted. If > nothing else, one would think that there would be some sort of system > in place for such works to be donated to a library or alma mater so > that they could at least not be lost to history. Destroying them seems > to be a bit of a "scorched earth" policy. I have to believe that there > are Estate Planners that could suggest something more reasonable. > > Regarding the lawyer inserting himself, I agree with what others have > expressed. The legal system will welcome, with open arms, the > opportunity to extract any wealth from the situation that they can. I > think an argument could be made that Vivian Maier's work had > essentially NO economic value until that value was created by the work > of Mr. Maloof (and others) in publicizing her work. The lawyer in > involved himself in tracking down the alleged closer relative is no > different than any other "ambulance chaser" lawyer, IMHO. > > I think we need to be careful before we deify Mr. Maloof, however. He > is clearly a shrewd operator, given the way he has generated and > leveraged media attention (etc.) into a book, a movie, and print > sales, exhibits, etc. I was not aware, for example, that Vivian Maier > was still alive (but hospitalized, apparently) when her storage locker > stuff was sold. This page is interesting (and provides a lot of other > links related to Vivian Maier and her work) > http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~plbannos/VivianMaier.html > > Never having gotten to see the Finding Vivian Maier movie, I just > purchased the DVD. I was also not aware of the BBC program "The Vivian > Maier Mystery". That is an hour long program which is available to > watch on Amazon video (and maybe NetFlix?) Here is the IMDB page for > it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3252208/ > > FINALLY, a while back I referred to an article by Kevin Coffee on the > ethics for the journal "Museum Management and Curatorship" regarding > work like Vivian Maier's. > That article, entitled "Misplaced: ethics and the photographs of > Vivian Maier" can be found here: > > The file 'VivianMaier_K_Coffee.pdf' (215 KB) is available for download at > < > http://dropbox.unl.edu/uploads/20140924/41a4684ff30b1ef8/VivianMaier_K_Coffee.pdf > > > for the next 14 days. > It will be removed after Wednesday, September 24, 2014. > > On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Bruce Walker <[email protected]> wrote: >> My brother-in-law, a retired photojournalist (Newsweek, Time), has >> left specific instructions to destroy his negatives after his death so >> his family won't be hit by US inheritance taxes on the estimated >> market value of the collection. He sells through Getty and Polaris so >> this is a valid financial threat. >> >> Kinda sad, I think. He did a close up and personal pictorial project >> with a young Bob Dylan and Rotolo, his then girlfriend, living in New >> York, and these rare shots would be destroyed, along with thousands of >> others. >> >> >> On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 8:37 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Indeed. It has taught me ... I now have explicit instructions in my will as >>> to what will happen with my photographs after I leave this mortal coil. Not >>> that I expect them to be valuable to anyone besides me, but I will not >>> allow vulpine lawyers to profit from my works. That's much worse than >>> allowing treasure finders like Maloof and the other owners to profit from >>> their discoveries. I'd much rather see the photos burned. >>> >>> The Virginia lawyer at the bottom of this latest turn of affairs is >>> probably another redneck Fundamentalist Republican ... The worst kind of >>> scum skimmer. >>> >>> Godfrey >>> >>> >>>> On Sep 9, 2014, at 4:49 PM, Ann Sanfedele <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> I'm not even reading all of that stuf and it makes me sad >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> >> >> -- >> -bmw >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > > > -- > Photographers must learn not to be ashamed to have their photographs > look like photographs. > ~ Alfred Stieglitz > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
