Hi Chris. I've followed the intrepid Legographer on some of his hilarious exploits, experiments and encounters... You have enough of a selection to string them into an amusing adventure series. How about finding an avenue to exhibit or publish them? I see the potential. Just a thought 😏
@karengoh - First off I want to thank you so much for checking out and following CJ's many adventures Karen. It's a joy and the response from you and everyone makes it all the more enjoyable! I have thought about putting the little guy photographing different parts of LA on greeting cards or making prints to exhibit his adventures so far, maybe even a book. I've been trying to collect a bunch of ideas and then choosing one and going from there. Would you happen to have any ideas or suggestions? :)
@cjphoto Hi Chris, apologies for the late reply - I've been behind on life, including 365. Firstly, ensure you take legal and practical steps to protect your intellectual property rights. Particularly, if exploiting your rights or promoting the little guy's profile digitally or through social media - check out ways to allow controlled sharing but prevent breach (ie commercial reproduction). Secondly, you potentially have Lego fans, photography enthusiast and other audiences (simply because his adventures are fun!). You'll need to reach out and develop your following first, in my view. Set up a website to host your collection; and don't forget YouTube as a promotion tool. Third, your ideas are great - but do that after you have a fan following - as hard copy is expensive if this is to be your first outreach. Other ideas may be digital, such as screen savers, app download, or approaching Lego to sponsor, promote or buy. I'd really like to see the little guy venture and go place...and we can all say we've seen him on 365 first! ;-)
@karengoh -Thank you so much Karen for the thoughtful and detailed reply. You gave me a lot to think about! In fact, I'm going to give serious thought to what you said about legal protection, my potential audience, and reaching out to develop my following. Sometimes figuring out where to start is where I get stuck so you gave me some great advice that'll help me get going in a direction. I'll really work on ways to start a following with an audience in mind. We'll see where it leads the little Legographer! Once again, thank you very much for taking the time to give me advice! :)
@cjphoto Hi Chris. I've just done a quick search this morning - and you may already know this (I did not) - someone called Andrew Whyte has already capitalised on this idea and done a 365 (day) journey of the Legographer, which has had attention in the media, FB and YouTube. A couple of additional challenges for you, unfortunately. First, caution to give credit when using "LEGO" reference, as it's a trademarked term (Lego ownership - I forgot to mention in previous comment). But Andrew has tried to work round it using Leg Ographer, etc which is still risky from a legal perspective. Nonetheless, you risk a double whammy if you try and get round it the same way. Secondly, same applies, regarding the little guy's journeys. Copying concepts do not breach copyright, although you might get pushback. Nothwithstanding all this, IF (1) Legographer is trade marked and belongs to Lego and (2) this concep is already ubiquitous - not unique to Andrew - then a different approach is to jump on the bandwagon (cautiously from a legal perspective) and exploit your captures, rather than to break new ground. You need to do some research to proceed and there are more risk issues to consider. Still potential for your captures, but you need to manoeuvre around what's preceded your activities.
Yep, I'm very familiar with Andrew Whyte, his work has been very inspiring to me. There's also others similar to him, such as The Lego Backpaker on Instagram who also received a bit of media attention at one point. I have a board on Pinterest of several Legographers who have done many similar photos and have even used the term. I have a certain style in CJ's photos that I'm using to try to differentiate him. But I will be cautious about the legalities of it. I'm also very aware of use of the term LEGO when selling but thanks for that reminder. From what I've researched Legographer isn't trademarked but, if necessary, I have other terms in mind to call him. Not really looking to get to the same level as Andrew, maybe it will, maybe it won't. My goal is to use CJ to make an emotional connection using my style of wacky adventures, and go from that angle (safely). Jumping on the bandwagon but painting CJ's wagon differently. Similar to the way people may choose to photograph Stormtroopers (which is saturated with photographers all over the web and has it's own legal hoops to jump through) but a few have a style that makes more of an emotional connection to their target audience. So I'll have to look more carefully at the audience that I specifically want to target with CJ and at the same time I've been doing more research on legal side. I thank you so much for taking the time to do a quick search and give me realistic advice on considering the risk. More than you know, it truly has been an invaluable aid to me! :)
August 1st, 2016
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