Not exactly...

"Interpreting" a photograph is not liable to copyright laws .Just about all rail artists have to base their art on photographs . I do business with Denver Public Library and they have stated no problem with this to me . Once an artist released a print very similar to one I had in my portfolio . He even used the same title ! .Though I knew it was useless to take him to court I looked into it anyway .I found out all an artist has to do is change seven things and he or she can release a similar print . T hat iartist did exactly that ,so case closed .I did not feel threatened by him ,as self-confidence is important to being a successful artist . Yes ,most of my art is based on photos that I could not have been around to take myself .(RGS scrapping officially began the day I was born , September 1 ,1952 .The first spike was pulled the next day )Nevertheless , I try hard to make an original image by changing loco numbers ,consist ,time of year and the format of the scene.Sometimes I even combine a number of images and plant engines in different locations to get a truly original scene . I make no claim to be a great artist . The limits of time and pricing often dictate making a scene identical to an old photo . Sometimes that is exactly what the customer wants. I will never hang in the Whitney or the Louvre .But I will leave a nice little legacy of well-executed paintings that attempt to put the viewer in a long-gone time and place . I am basically self-taught ,and I am very proud of the consistent quality of my work .