Ethics Reading Response

I never really put much thought into the ethics codes of art making, let alone photography. But I guess I've never put myself into a situation where I'd have to prove my art was not plagiarized. All I ever did was trust my gut in knowing what was the right or wrong thing to do and followed the rules and standards that society has imprinted on me. I had no idea that there was so many divisions of ethics like virtue or deontology. This made the Ethical Theories essay a little intimidating and given that there was hardly any photographic context, it seemed out of place. The essay by Elliot seemed much more relevant to everyday life and was much more helpful to my understanding of the difference between plagiarism and appropriation. It brought up the fact that in todays age as we are surrounded by technology and we have ready access to source material, it is more important now than ever to give credit where credit is due. The final essay, Digital Appropriation added a more personal touch to the subject by providing real world example with situations and including actual quotes from various artists in history. My favorite quote though was "To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge – and, therefore, like power"