SARAH GINN VS SUB FOCUS - A CIRCULAR LIGHT

In December 2021 I pitched a collaboration project to Sub Focus called ‘A Circular Light’ - This is the start of Visual Concept Music Photography and complete seamless photographic branding of a live act, in this case using a number of photographic techniques to create circles in all photos taken.

A Circular Light was one of the pitches I wrote and approached artists with to launch the concept of VS. VS is explained in the intro in this section of my site. This side of VS is where a live act and a visual team/photographer collaborate on an equal footing to create a one off art house project over 5/6 gigs. This also means the artists mixing up mediums with each other. This pitch included the pre-cursor to The Feedback Loop Theory (available under The Theories tab), and the final aim is to carry out an exhibition or make a tour book which is then backed up by music theory alongside branded photos. This is to produce an inspiring project for the audience that moulds together an artists identity, with intentional and collaborative music theory.

Although this pitch never came to pass in the end, it’s a good example of how VS will work and the genesis of such projects. It also is one of the more detailed pitches showing how shooting a circular rig with circular style photos can visually brand an artist.

Version 2.0 of the pitch will be uploaded shortly.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE & BREACH

UPDATE: As of 28/03/2024 Worship Artists have declined to engage or publicly apologise to me for legal threats & plagiarism (in my personal opinion) of my intellectual property after I made this public. Over a year later, no damages have been paid or compensation arranged. Sam Neill (samneill.photo.com) continues to use my concept for all of his work with Sub Focus after never using the concept before my pitch arrived. This is despite working with Nick for a number of years.

Scroll to bottom of page for further images from tour artwork, Sam’s version of my work and a selection of screenshots from other photographers and Sam after I called this out publicly on his Instagram page. Plus threats of legal action from Seb at Worship via email for publicly stating plagiarism online in April 2023.

The screenshot DMs demonstrate an unsolicited message from a photographer I didn’t know, it has been recorded on this page as an example of the bullying via private DMs that has come my way since I made this fully public. Full transcript is available on request (company is northworks.io). Please also see attached Sam’s response via private DM where he gaslights me about plagiarism (in my opinion) of my work. I feel publishing them is the best course of action, to highlight the reaction to protecting my intellectual property on one occasion.

I believe these DM’s are quite aggressive in an attempt to silence me, and to save face as further demonstrated by threats of legal action so this is not publicly known. Some contain misogynistic slurs that are sadly extremely common from male photographers (sexist gatekeeping/bullying is standard within electronic music photography, echoing a recent UK government report on misogyny within the music industry). More importantly, rather than answering my public comments on his Instagram, Sam blocked those so his followers wouldn’t see them. Then he proceeded to message me privately in this way, not believing his comments would ever be shown. He denied copying my work to others who left posts publicly and also denied his managers legal threats against me (which are published below) stating harassment after I left one post, which he had already blocked. Those conversations are displayed on the bottom of this page. He then also blocked those users so their posts are not visible.

He also reported my only communication to him on his page as bullying to instagram, see bottom of the page for the comment removed, to claim to be a victim. Other photographers have now started to mass report my defence messages which has resulted in multiple automatic instagram warnings. This is classed as mobbing. I have also received anonymous threatening phone calls on occasion and multiple attempts were made to hack my Instagram account. I have now set my Instagram to private to stop the abuse. Interestingly, Sam said he would post my public comments on his stories to highlight my ‘bullying’. After I said that would direct his followers to my pitch to make their own conclusions, he immediately ended the conversation and never mentioned me again.

Subsequently to protect myself I have made the decision if any further attempts to accuse me of harassment, intimidate, threaten or bully me into silence for protecting my IP on one occasion, will be recorded on this page in real time. This situation remains as reported below with no movement either side. I have not been sued so far regarding this matter for defamation and my email to Worship’s legal council remain unanswered. I have no further attachment to music photography, so I’m moving on and continuing working in other mediums outside this realm until this matter is concluded in my favour. I consider the risks of going public worth it for the protection of those within the industry, by detailing recent developments since my original statement in April (below) was published.

As stated above, I have since been a target of cyberattacks by multiple male photographers and Sam. I have been called amongst other things - ‘crazy’, ‘cu*nt’, ‘prick’, ‘whore’, ‘dick’, ‘bitch’ etc by these male photographers. As they feel it’s acceptable to talk in this aggressive manner to a female photographer they haven’t met/worked with via unsolicited private DMs/abusive calls in this way. This is for protecting my IP which I have a right to do. This also highlights Sam’s extremely problematic behaviour as he instructed those photographers to mob me. Rather than address his plagiarism publicly he has decided to bully and abuse me in private to protect his public image, by sending others to harass me by proxy. This overall experience has been incredibly frightening, severely affecting my mental/physical health long term. I have also been told I’m unlikely to be hired again in music for calling out such a huge management team earlier this year, due to the power of their agents.

The VS projects I have created over the last two years serve as a record of work that is in my mind completed already, as they exist via my pitches, which I am satisfied with despite my opinion of plagiarism in this particular case. This concept is the zenith of my efforts within the medium. The theory side of this concept will be published as the SETS theory on this website in due course. This represents a positive movement forward for my work by switching mediums into writing for the foreseeable future. Rather than see this as experience as a setback I’ll use it to strike new ground, and take this as a fruitful redirection away from a potentially more harmful/dangerous situation. This page will remain up permanently as a public record of this team’s behaviour.

The final email at the bottom of this page was sent to Seb 6 months ago that I feel was justified in the treatment of me over this time, and I also sent it on behalf of their many other victims in the industry worldwide. This manager team are not an accurate representation of the rich legacy of drum and bass in this country, and do not have any respect from the UK drum and bass community at large. I will categorically never have any dealings with Worship or Sub Focus again and have decided to completely block off any access to me. I do not recommend anyone approaches them for work henceforth due my experiences. Worship Artists are officially the most unprofessional, dishonest, arrogant, rude, sly, disrespectful and threatening people I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with in my entire 15 year career within this industry. I am extremely thankful this pitch didn’t go any further, and this situation protected me in the long run from an extremely toxic, manipulative and abusive environment.

Original Page Uploaded April 2023 (The First Public Statement)

Please note effects contained within the pitch are from original designs and concepts are not to be copied or reproduced by other photographers for this particular act. These ideas can also not be used in conjunction with one another and the VS concept cannot be transferred without permission from Sarah Ginn.

On the 16.04.2023, Seb of Worship Artists threatened me with legal action of defamation in answer to my complaint regarding the breach of copyright for this pitch by Sam Neill and making this known online via social media. This pitch is being published in full publicly to further protect any effects contained within and preserve its originality. Before this pitch was sent to Worship Artists, Sam Neill (also represented by Worship) had never used the circles within circles concept photographically for any of his work for Sub Focus, or any circular photographic processes at all historically.

Circular effects are used in photography but the reality is with the timing, the name of the pitch, along with my circles in circles concept, I feel my pitch has been copied by Sam (my personal opinion). Please scroll to the bottom of the pitch to see Sam Neill’s images/Seb’s email. Currently Sam is still using my concept within his work and taking full credit with no communication from Worship at this time.

Sam’s first image that Seb references at the Warehouse Project in his defending email is a picture of Sub Focus’s physical circular light rig with a soft filter over it, not an actual circles within circles/circular photographic effect itself. In fact all those images in his email are utilising the rig as a circle only, rather than shooting the round rig within circles as per my concept. Bar the Rukes shot as that filter has fairly common use now. If I did not have a case here, litigation action would not be threatened at all and my complaint entirely ignored.

Without an NDA I cannot pursue this legally, and the fact this has turned into a real life VS is unfortunate and not something I wanted to happen. I would have liked to have implemented my own concept to its maximum potential in this case. Despite Sam’s continued plagiarism and Seb’s legal threats towards me, the door has been left open to rectify the situation. I have no ill will towards Worship, bar making this public. However, in my opinion I do not personally recommend anyone approaches that management team or their photographer, for any kind of creative or business collaboration until these ethics are resolved. I’ve shot extensively in drum and bass over my career, I feel its the right thing to do to speak about what I personally consider unprofessional practice. Pitch theft/plagiarism is very common in the creative industries and this page is part of me highlighting that.

It has also been a good learning experience for me to continue to push forward and detach from any outcome. This pitch in the end is great work to launch the VS concept with, it inspired The Feedback Loop Theory and was the first live act I created this new workflow for. By being copied before I could implement the concept fully myself, it shows the high quality of the ideas contained within. This helps to reframe the above in a positive way for all parties involved.

‘When we know that whatever we send out comes back, we begin to be afraid of our own boomerangs’

Florence Scovel Shinn

But in any case…we move…never stop creating and breaking boundaries within your field, no matter what setbacks that may occur. There will be many in your journey to hurdle over.

IP addresses from Worship employees etc after updating this page are at the bottom of the screen as a record for any kind of cybercrime that may occur. This page was last edited on the 22nd December 2023 at 11.15am and all information is regarded as my personal opinion regarding the matter. It does not attempt to misrepresent or misinform those involved and serves as mentioned above. It is a transparent opinion piece on my personal experiences pitching to a large industry manager team. This is about a common occurrence within the creative industries and the structural inequalities for female photographers. Please feel free to make your own opinions with the evidence contained within.