The Curious Case of Rosie Hardy – Rosie Hardy plagiarism

Yellowstone, originally uploaded by Tony Eckersley.

UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments and emails regarding this topic. Again, just like this blog post states, this is not a personal attack on Rosie Hardy. I think she is a very talented artist and has some great original work. I also wish I had Rosie’s email address so I could forward her some of the HATE mail I have received after writing this post. To the people who wrote me HATE mail, I say, I am glad you think my work is “crap.” Very constructive guys.

Please take some time to read the rest of my blog – I would be very interested in getting to know you all.

Let me begin by stating I mean no disrespect to Rosie Hardy from my ramblings here. Think of it as my musings.

There are many people in the world who don’t know who Rosie Hardy is (obviously), so let me start by explaining a few things to get the ball rolling here. I love Flickr. It’s a great place for me to browse, be inspired (key word here) by, and enjoy looking at photographs from the comfort of my office chair on my computer screen. I have spent time networking and finding people of which I enjoy their work, commenting on and fav’ing some pieces.

I happened to come across a link to a photo from Rosie Hardy. I really liked her style of portrait photography, and as it turned out, self-portrait photography. I started browsing her photo stream and thought a few pieces, albeit, a little (sorry Rosie) self absorbed, were really great. I then come across a story on some of her photos regarding this Aaron character, an American man, and their (nauseating) love story of how they met on Flickr, fell in love etc etc etc. This story has even been featured on MSNBC.com and even some printed press.

One thing that struck me about her photo stream were the seemingly endless comments from her fans – usually around 250-300 comments over 1000 favs, and over 15,000 views. I believe this puts you in the Flickr celebrity category – no matter what you upload, all your fans will come running just to be the first to comment and award her with many a Flickr-wards. I was jealous! I wished I could get these many views! Now granted, being the internet and all, being an attractive female who likes to photograph herself usually means instant popularity (guess that’s why I don’t get views?), but she has some genuinely great pieces of art and shows great promise for a future in photography/art.

A couple of days ago, a Flickr user named HarryNY (now deleted) had noticed a few things. And the internet got angry. It seemed Flickr’s beloved Rosie Hardy had taken several pieces of art from DevianART and, well, quite frankly, recreated (or stole if you are an angry internet person) them. Personally, I would say this is all good and fine as long a you credited the original art… right? Right Rosie? Oh…

Hmmn. That’s kinda of a big deal. When you achieve Flickr status of “celeb,” it is NOT fair to take people’s work and claim it as your own. I mean people have a serious obsession with this girl, and it doesn’t seem quite right when there is clear evidence of plagiarism. I consider myself an artist as a profession and as a hobby (obviously) and I appreciate how hard it can be at times to break the creative block, and I certainly turn to others for inspiration. But there is a real fine line here that should not be crossed – one that makes me angry. Don’t take other artist’s work to claim as your own. The thing is, I don’t think it was a mistake either. Reading her description, there was not a HINT that anything was taken, or replicated… Unfortunately, she has removed said images, however, some still remain. This quote kills me

Rosie Hardy wrote : “…all the other photos you have posted of mine were NOT influenced by the other pictures, BECAUSE I HADN’T SEEN THEM”

If you take a look through Rosie’s favorites on her DeviantART account, you can see where she took images. Below is not even one of the worse offenders! The original is on the left, Rose’s is on the right.

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Photo from rosiehardyplagiarism from tumblr – website now gone

Apparently Rosie Hardy is also making profit from these images by selling prints to fund her and Aaron’s trips together. I am not sure the the plagiarized images are being sold, but either way – I don’t agree with profiting from others work. Flickr user Arty Smokes makes some really genuine points (in the Flickr Central group) which I fully agree with. He says:

“Imagine the scene: Rosie Hardy applies to go to a top university to do a degree in fine art photography. She presents her portfolio of images heavily inspired by other people’s work (which she passes off as wholly her own). She gets a place on the university course because of her “creative vision” and “original concepts”. Other people who are truly creative are rejected.

When it comes to her degree show, does she just copy someone else again, or does it transpire that she hasn’t got an original idea in her head?”

I remember being furious at a fellow student at University using someone’s idea. That person was kicked out of school as in the UK, plagiarism is a serious case and is treated as severely as possible. And it’s to the point now where her wide exposure will no doubt land her gigs just like the infamous and brilliant photographer Rebekka . Again to quote Arty Smokes:

“I think it would be a travesty for Flickr if the site became known for raising a copyist to its highest ranks. I think we should be supporting artists, not artisans.”

I don’t want this to be a personal attack on Rosie, it certainly is not meant to be, but I hope it’s a wake up call to some and especially her. Taking people’s work and using it for personal gain is not right and I truly believe Rosie Hardy is certainly learning this the hard way. This would never had been a problem if she has acknowledged where the ‘idea’ came from.

Truth is, I sympathize with her a little. The internet is a harsh world where people are free to write as they please and will not think twice before bashing others. This is happening to Rosie right now I am sure. The girl has talent – tons of it. I am still a fan of her original work, but I have lost a lot of respect and her integrity has been tarnished for many. Her most recent picture comes with an apology – aka the right thing to do – but who knows what will happen from here. She tells her fans that she is taking a break from Flickr, and personally I hope she takes everything that has happened (which for a young 18 year old is quite a big undertaking), reflects, and moves on positively from it. Would make an interesting chapter in her book should she reach such level of success.

I will also add that some believe this could be some crazy marketing ploy – remember Lonelygirl15 anyone?

Let me finish with a quote I heard from Platon. I know he was quoting someone but I can’t remember – The quote sticks with me though:

If you are a true artist, you are never wrong… If you listen to what is in your heart and you just express that, you’re always right. Sometimes your critics won’t understand it, sometimes they won’t like it, but that is just too bad. The important thing is that you always do what’s in your heart. THAT’S what an artist is.

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Published:
02.23.09 / 7pm
Category:
Flickr