A Photographer’s Dilemma

What do you do when you share the same idea with another artist but they get to showcase it first?

I recently took a photo of Merilin, a model from the Marilyn Agency and sent it to Dean, her booker. We asked Dean what he thought of the finished photo (below) where we placed butterflies around Merilin’s hair. He responded, “Love it, did you see the new Jill Stuart ad, Satoshi Saikusa shot Lindsey Wixson and used butterflies.”  Damn, they got it out there first with broader exposure. The question was, should I use the photo or not? My decision was yes. I like the photo very much. I stand by my ideas, and as the saying goes, “great minds think a like.” What would you do?