Dear Brian I am no expert in copyright but am very interested in the subject. Common sense tells me that the museum can only copyright photographs of objects in their collection that they took/commissioned themselves, and not the historical objects themselves that are clearly in the public domain.
Paid access to the objects could be substantiated in the specialised labour involved in preparing the objects for viewing, and the expense of their conservation in general, so a minimal fee seems fair. You can obviously manipulate your own images in any way you wish, ( although academic/journalism ethics apply to your situation which you acknowledge, so it is not clear why the Museum mentions that at all. I might be misinterpreting one paragraph. As a matter of interest. What do you mean exactly here?: "They claim that my flattening of an image is "Manipulation". It is not, I just print say 5 images very close together, then the bobbin looks flat. I rarely if ever make any changes to an image." I empathize with your situation. How awful to have a prime subject of your curiosity willfully inaccessible when your intentions are clearly for the greater good! Best Pierre - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
