That banner picture
posted by bitchphd
Syd B. asks, in just the right tone, I want to know where that damn picture in your banner came from. And I want to know now. How could I possibly not fulfill a request like that?
So, Syd (and all the folks who email to ask the same question): I, personally, found it on the web while looking for a suitable picture over a year ago, when I finally decided to have the fabulous Lauren make me a nice site design. Like you, I love it; but I didn't know where in the world it came from. Everyone loved it, though, and I thought, "hey! Marketing opportunity!" So early last fall I asked Ann Bartow, who blogs with a group of other Feminist Law Professors and reads the site (and who I really like) if she would be willing to take the case and track it down for me, and she agreed.
Not too long after that I got an email from someone saying "I know where you got that picture!" "Where?!?" I wrote back. Turns out the original is hanging on the wall--near the women's bathroom, I understand--at a divey Hollywood place called Birds.
A lead! Ann emailed the owner to ask about the pic, and was referred to a gentleman named Sandy, who is the person who actually took it. Apparently the girls in the picture are his real-life daughters, and he gave the picture to his sister and her (then) husband, who used to own Birds, a long time ago.
Understandably, Sandy is not interested in me making money off his ass-kicking little girls. So, once he'd refused rights, I bit the bullet and emailed him myself: it seemed like the decent thing to do. I confessed that I'd been using the pic for a couple years or so, had found it on the web, and had been trying to track him down; gave him a link to the site; explained that I have a kid myself and perfectly understood why he didn't want to let me market the picture; told him that you and I adore those little girls; and asked him if he minded me just using it as the banner image.
Sandy, as you'd expect of a man who raised such darling hellions, turns out to be a decent guy. He thanked me for being honest, said go ahead and keep using it, and didn't say anything one way or the other about whether he wanted me to credit him as the photographer. So I haven't given his last name, though I've told Los Angelenos where they can make a pilgrimage to the original (I understand the restaurant sometimes has postcards available).
Come to think of it, we may have to have some kind of bitchy get-together there someday.
So, Syd (and all the folks who email to ask the same question): I, personally, found it on the web while looking for a suitable picture over a year ago, when I finally decided to have the fabulous Lauren make me a nice site design. Like you, I love it; but I didn't know where in the world it came from. Everyone loved it, though, and I thought, "hey! Marketing opportunity!" So early last fall I asked Ann Bartow, who blogs with a group of other Feminist Law Professors and reads the site (and who I really like) if she would be willing to take the case and track it down for me, and she agreed.
Not too long after that I got an email from someone saying "I know where you got that picture!" "Where?!?" I wrote back. Turns out the original is hanging on the wall--near the women's bathroom, I understand--at a divey Hollywood place called Birds.
A lead! Ann emailed the owner to ask about the pic, and was referred to a gentleman named Sandy, who is the person who actually took it. Apparently the girls in the picture are his real-life daughters, and he gave the picture to his sister and her (then) husband, who used to own Birds, a long time ago.
Understandably, Sandy is not interested in me making money off his ass-kicking little girls. So, once he'd refused rights, I bit the bullet and emailed him myself: it seemed like the decent thing to do. I confessed that I'd been using the pic for a couple years or so, had found it on the web, and had been trying to track him down; gave him a link to the site; explained that I have a kid myself and perfectly understood why he didn't want to let me market the picture; told him that you and I adore those little girls; and asked him if he minded me just using it as the banner image.
Sandy, as you'd expect of a man who raised such darling hellions, turns out to be a decent guy. He thanked me for being honest, said go ahead and keep using it, and didn't say anything one way or the other about whether he wanted me to credit him as the photographer. So I haven't given his last name, though I've told Los Angelenos where they can make a pilgrimage to the original (I understand the restaurant sometimes has postcards available).
Come to think of it, we may have to have some kind of bitchy get-together there someday.
Labels: LA, mememe, metablogging
Posted at 8:40 AM
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