Talk:Lan Bui

Email interview by Greg Grossmeier completed on June 26th, 2008.

1. Could you start of with telling me a little about yourself? And how would you describe your profession?

I am a photographer and video maker born in New York state and live in sunny Orange County California. I am heavily involved in promoting new media, teaching new media literacy and sharing my media. I am an organizer of the greatest web-video awards show of all time... The Winnies held in Los Angeles in 2007.

I would describe my profession by just saying "I make media". From photography of tech celebrities (Veronica Belmont, Zadi Diaz, Casey McKinnon) and The Ninja to videos for professionals and events (Comic Con and Pixelodeon), I (well, myself and my brother Vu) make them all from start to finish.

2. As a professional photographer, how did you come to decide on a Creative Commons license, and why did you choose the specifc CC license you did?

I cannot pinpoint one single event or person that turned me on to Creative Commons licenses. The two people that greatly impacted me knowing about CC would be Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson. Before learning about CC I would offer my photography to anyone who asked to use it, but after finding out about Creative Commons I loved it because it was the easiest way to offer my photography (and videos) to anyone who wanted to use it.

Depending on the photography I am doing, I release it under different licenses. Typically I use CC-by-nc-sa but have been seriously considering using CC-by-sa to open up my images to even more people.

4. Where there any resources in particular that you used to help make your decision? Webpages, videos, or other?

There were a few videos I really liked that I've watched over the years, the official videos on the CC pages, I likes very much but I think the real reason i made my decision to use CC was the great word of mouth. Lots of people talked about CC and I just picked it up from them.

5. Have you personally seen your CC-licensed work in other contexts online? What has your reaction been to these uses?

I believe your question is asking if I have seen my work used our of the license? If so...

I have had a few incidences where my work was used improperly according to my license. The main one was very upsetting and was actually blogged about on the CC website (link). The blog article covers the incident pretty well but I have more information on my blog here and here.

If your question was if my work has been found used properly then...

I have had a few very positive experiences with people using my work through a CC license. i don't have any examples handy but can come up with them if you want.

6. How do you explain to others how you make a living as a photographer while at the same time allowing others to freely distribute your content online?

I think that people pay me for my time and talent, not for the actual images I deliver.