THEY ARE BLIND

I stole the article below from PDN as I am always interested when people ask the question, but never out rightly accuse someone of plagiarism. Well in my opinion this guy is king of the copy cats. Just go and have a look at his website here. I counted eight photographers he has basically copied in every detail.
Sad really because he obviously has the talent to create beautiful images, just not very original ones.

Copycat or not? Are you daft..

February 16, 2010

Copycat or Not? Photographer Challenged Over Look-Alike Work

Vancouver photographer David Burdeny is on the defensive over his recent series of landscape images called “Sacred & Secular,” after photographer Sze Tsung Leong reportedly challenged him about similarities to Sze’s “Horizons” series. Some of Burdeny's images are also similar to images by Elger Esser, although Esser has not objected.

“These [Burdeny] works are identical [to Sze’s], particularly the pyramid [image],” says Sze’s New York gallerist, Yossi Milo. “The scale, the feel, the look—the similarities are quite alarming.” Milo says he learned of Burdeny’s work earlier this month after it went on exhibit at the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery in Vancouver. Milo notified Sze, who contacted his lawyer.

Dahshur, Egypt. From "Horizons" by Sze Tsung Leong, 2007

Bent Pyramid. From "Sacred & Secular," David Burdeny, 2009

“My position is that there has been no copyright infringement,” Burdeny said in a telephone interview, indicating that the dispute still isn’t resolved.

Burdeny’s gallery in Calgary, Herringer Kiss, recently removed his “Sacred & Secular” images from its Web site, and abruptly postponed an exhibition of the work that was supposed to open February 6.

The Jennifer Kostuik gallery has also removed from its Web site Burdeny’s image of the pyramid in Dahshur, Egypt.

Burdeny says the “Sacred & Secular” images were removed from the Herringer Kiss site because of “the allegations about copying.” But he says the exhibit was postponed because the work is currently on display at the Kostuik gallery, not because of copyright issues.

The owner of the Herring Kiss gallery did not respond to requests for an interview.

Burdeny would not confirm directly that it is Sze who has challenged him. But he says, “A lot of claims they’re making are outright false,” and he says, "there are some libel claims I could bring up."

Burdeny went on to say, “I’m aware of their [Esser and Sze’s] work, and my position is, these are fairly common tourist locations,” referring to vantage points where he shot images similar to theirs.

Of the landscapes he’s been shooting since 2006, he says, “More often than not I am standing next to someone who is taking the same image. So in a sense I’m taking things where basically, there might as well be a ‘scenic viewpoint’ sign. There are hundreds of copies of pretty much the same viewpoint.”

Burdeny also said that many photographers—including well-known ones—mimic the work of others. “There are bigger fish to fry than me,” he says.

He continues, “It’s not that I want to divert attention away from myself. To imply that I am somehow the first person who has ever made a similar image, even if I was aware of that image—that’s the climate that everybody else works in…People appropriate other people’s images, people are aware of certain people’s work, the knowledge of what people are doing travels at light speed. Everybody draws from each other, and every once in a while, somebody gets singled out.”

Milo says it’s not just the similarity to a few of Sze's images that’s alarming. “The [Sacred & Secular] installation is exactly the same [as "Horizons"]. This takes it to another level.” According to Milo, the Kostuik gallery asked two years ago to exhibit Sze’s “Horizons” series during the winter Olympics in Vancouver, but Milo declined.

Meanwhile, Esser’s New York gallery, Sonnabend, sees little threat in Burdeny’s work. “He kind of copies quite few different photographers,” says Jason Ysenburg, the gallery's co-director. “He has studied his artists, and seen what would work well.” But a crucial difference between Esser’s work and Burdeny’s, according to Ysenburg, is that Esser’s landscapes reference 19^th century painting. Burdeny’s images, by contrast, are true to the scenes and colors as he finds them. “He’s changing nothing,” Ysenburg says. “He’s just recording the image.”

Canale della Giudecca I, Venezia, Sze Tsung Leong, 2007

Grand Canal II, Venezia, by David Burdeny, 2009

Cutting Wharf I, Elger Esser, 2008

Sacramento River, David Burdeny, 2009

Paris, Elger Esser, 1999

River Seine 1, David Burdeny, 2009