It has come to my attention that someone on Fred Miranda has attempted to slander me and some other photographers on this site, including friend Marc Adamus. Whoever this was attempted to radically capitalize on my being away from the site since June 3rd, almost two months ago. They also attempted to cunningly capitalize on the way I took a temporary break from the site. It was a very difficult time in my personal life, including a variety of personal tragedies and crises. I knew I was not in the right frame of mind to be posting on the site and on my last day I deleted two threads and then did not return until today. Today, a fellow member on this site emailed me to let me know what had happened. I was both very disturbed and yet thankful for this communication. I did not know what was going on. Since then I am now communicating with moderators to see what can be done to find out who this person was.
I would like to say a few things. Let me be clear. Marc Adamus is my all time favorite landscape photographer period. Anyone who knows me knows this. Marc himself knows this. We talk periodically by phone, I consider him a friend, and I have the up most respect for him and his wonderful body of amazing landscape work. The truth is that without the great and consistent inspiration I derived from Marc Adamus’s work, I would never have gone as far as I have thus far in photography. Every time I talk with Marc in person, I tell him that his work puts a “fire in my belly” and that I very much appreciate that fact. Inspiration is very valuable.
Some confusion may muddy this issue, surrounding the way I quickly dropped from the site, temporarily. I posted a thread that had an image that some thought was over processed and over saturated. Some folks were very clear about their feelings about this. There was a comment or two that I believed crossed the line. I did not believe an argument in a public setting was a good way to deal with it. Although I admit, I was frustrated, my choice of action was to simply delete the threads and just walk away until I could process this more effectively. This is exactly what I did. I simply took a break from photography to attend to the personal matters (priorities) in my life. I don’t want to go into the details here but I suffered a series of massive losses this year that were simply bone crushing. The exact time of the thread that I deleted, I was dealing with multiple family crises and personal tragedy, and it simply became too much for me. Even though I was overwhelmed and not in a good frame of mind, I certainly DID NOT let my pain corrupt my integrity by slandering good folks at this wonderful site.
I do want to apologize if anyone got hurt from those communications. My sense of responsibility lies in the fact that I know I have made some past mistakes before on this site (mainly about a year ago) and because of this, some may have difficulty believing me. I fully understand that. That part is my fault and I take full responsibility for it.
Lastly, I would like anyone to feel free to communicate with me via PM if they wish to. PLEASE NOTE that I do have to travel for the next 6 days, and will get to those communications as soon as I get back into town.
Very Sincerely,
Thank you Mark for posting this, and after speaking with you on the phone this afternoon, I know that what was posted before was not from you. I will admit that at one point, I was convinced that it MUST be you, but as I told you, I just couldn't believe that someone with ANY amount of passion for landscape photography could become so bitter and crazed.
I know that you are probably going out of your head with this right now, I can relate.. When it was brought to my attention that this same person had stolen one of my images, manipulated it, and reposted it under an alias of my real name, I was downright uncontrollable! I dont think I slept a wink that night.
I'm glad that it wasn't you, and I hope your personal strife has waned.
Mark, I sincerely hope that things start to look up for you in the near future. Whatever issues have come up on this site, your images have always been inspirational. I am also confident that you were not the one posting all of that nasty stuff last week. Best of luck to you.
welcome back mark, sorry to here of your troubles.
as ive said ine the past, i find your work inspiring, and following on from our past pm`s i too have started to keep pushing that extra little bit.
look forward to seeing some more classic images from you.
It's nice to hear from you - there is some very unstable people posing and being quite immature when it comes to commenting on the work of Marc's both here, on his smugmug site. It's too bad these individuals are so jealous that they act this way. Glad it's not you, Mark, for a while I wasn't sure.
As I commented in several of the posts, no s* it wasn't actually you. Either that or you had gone COMPLETELY psychotic. Most people realized what was going on, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Jul 27, 2008 at 02:34 AM
David Leask Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Hi Mark,
That's a brave post. I'm afraid I wasn't aware of any of the goings on but I can understand from your description that it was not a whole lot of fun for you. I'm glad to see you back in the house again and look forward to seeing more of your great work
All the best to you and yours, David
Well I missed all that drama, fortunately. I cant believe anybody would ever slander Marc
I look forward to seeing your work back on the site mark, I have always enjoyed it, but it would be nice if you could be a little more upfront about your processing to avoid any conflicts in the future.
Durnit, I could only dip into the forum occasionally for the past week, due to work pressures. I missed the whole thing! Anyway, here's hoping that whoever played whatever malicious trick was involved will not post to this forum again. It's a nice forum, with good folks, constructive suggestions and some stellar images. I'd like to see it stay that way.
Sean
Jul 27, 2008 at 01:52 PM
David Leask Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
jcw1982 wrote:
Maybe the mods or Fred can help address some of the issues you and others have brought up. I would be interested in reading the facts.
Fred is working on it. Not sure what other facts are needed, what happened unfortuately is nothing new, it's been going on as long as there have been BBS's or Forums where people can leave messages anonymously. We have been fortunate here on FM, and especially the Landscape forum, that in general everyone is very well behaved, and the fun we have is good natured. It does hurt here a bit more in the Landscape forum, as there is such a family feeling with all of the close friendships that are in here.
I had the opportunity, last April, to spend several hours with Mark in Las Vegas. All I can say is that I found him to be sincere and passionate about his photography and successfully dealing with issues that were external. I had the opportunity to see and touch several of his top quality prints (Durst Lambda + Fuji Crystal Archve). His prints set a benchmark that I rarely see met. I look forward to meeting Marc Adamus in person some day also.
This site, usually, is a step above most computer based forums. No matter how infrequently my posts are commented on, I almost never fail to learn something. Generally the posters are pleasant and thoughtful. I do hope that these issues can be dealt with.
I do appreciate this photo place and plan to continue to enjoy it and learn from it.
Wow, I'm glad I missed all the nastiness, too. Mark, add my thoughts and well-wishes to all the others expressed here; may all the crises be past and recovery be underway.
Indeed, such issues are almost inevitable in the age of identity theft and the Internet. We've experienced similar issues on my favorite dental forum, including some that resulted in legal actions, threats of violence, having to ban individuals multiple times as they found new ways in, etc.
Hopefully the powers that be can indeed find the guilty person and set things straight.
Mark, all the best to you, and please do return to showing us your stunning work.
While I don't know what happened at that time, I wish you all the best and hope that your crises go away soon and you can join us on the board soon again. Your photographic and feedback contributions have been always much appreciated.
Well, first I must say that I missed Mark70X70 photos. We all have different opinions sometimes but every criticism can do something good in the end.
I'm glad that you returned and that things in your life will go up.
Well, Mark, I'm glad to see that the offenders are not currently active and that you are OK with participating here again. We can't change what happened, even if many members here don't know anything about it. Hopefully the evil-doers will not return.
