Who else wants to have their images stolen?

I know. It’s terrible. I have intended to begin and maintain some type of meaningful blog for some time now, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions you know. I created this blog back in 2009 and in the days that followed I published a couple articles and 18 people subscribed to it. Those 18 poor souls are still subscribed. Maybe you are one of them. If you are, I apologize for the wait and thank you for your perseverance through the cold dark silence the past two years. There are two routes to take when beginning any journey in this world. You can formulate a plan, gather the tools you need to be successful and begin with a purpose or you can run around in the dark banging your head against the walls until you finally find a door. I guess we have already identified how I roll. That being said, I decided to do things a little differently this time and have maintained a mental list of ideas for this blog over the past year, not wanting to begin again until I actually had the framework mapped out in my mind. This time around I am actually hoping that YOU will subscribe to hear my scattered thoughts because I feel I have a few things to share. My hope is that this blog will become a place where you can find photographic knowledge that you can actually use, participate in a few meaningful discussions and laugh along with all the rest of them. I hope to share a few crazy stories, a tireless rant or two and to bring you mini tutorials and workflow examples along the way. I plan to share with you examples of other photographers whose work I admire, smash around some equipment to see if it is worth it and share a few lessons with you that will hopefully save you time and/or money in the long run. If that wasn’t a long enough preview for you, then you have way too much time on your hands and maybe you should write a blog. You could call it whyamIstillsittinghere? I am sure it would be quite the success.

To get this started off right I am going to share my recent experiences in finding out where some of my images go, where they end up and who is holding them hostage. I would like to thank Mr. Patterson for planting a seed in my mind and Mr. Schwabel for adding a little water by sharing his personal experience and knowledge with me. Both of these gentlemen are also great photographers so after you read the rest of this, follow those links and have a look for yourself or if you are ADHD and Bi-polar just go right now but please come back when you are finished.

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. We have all picked one hell of an expensive hobby. The GEAR you have just got to have, the POWER we all burn in getting there, the JOY we sometimes experience while chasing the light and the endless time away from our FRIENDS and FAMILY are only the tip of the iceberg. The farther we WANDER the longer the path seems to get. If everything is fluffy bunny rabbits and butterflies where you are right now…you should definitely stay there because the outside world can be a scary place.

If you have been shooting for awhile now and have created some quality work, blindly posting your images online without protecting yourself you are not alone. If you aren’t at least watermarking your images in some way, I would strongly consider it. THIS is an example of a watermark. If you are really paranoid you may want to consider THIS instead. At the very least this will make it a little more difficult to use your images and if someone actually appreciates your work and is interested in it, then they have an idea where to find you. Personally I have spent the last few days finding my images being used like THIS DVD BEING SOLD WITH MY IMAGE ON THE COVER and OR THIS CREATIVE PAINTER WHO DECIDED TO PAINT an exact copy of my image and then sell it for $450 online as well as prints all over the web. In fact, the image the painter decided to recreate is my worst example and I have found it on hundreds of websites that offer free wallpapers, cell phone themes, computer sales & service, dental procedures, spiritual advice and too many myspace & facebook accounts to even think about. Because that image was taken inside the Portland Japanese Garden, I actually had to pay just to have the right to sell my OWN image, while none of those people had to pay a dime. Even worse, this image was taken and processed before I had ANY skill at all and it shows. It is not an image I want everywhere on the web but I no longer have that choice.

Some of you may not be concerned at all about this in fact, some or you may see this type of “interest” in your photography as a compliment but I can assure you, if you ever plan on generating revenue from your photography this should at least shake you up a bit. People are stealing your images and using them for their own personal gain.

So what do I do now you ask? Well, before you do anything else you might want to TAKE UP SOME LIGHT READING and then learn how to REGISTER your images. Once you have gained that knowledge JUMP OVER HERE and pick up this tool to help protect yourself from those who want something for nothing from you. You can (and should) register your images with the US Copyright office so when you find blatant infringement of your images you can do something about it. That’s about it for tonight but stay tuned for other interesting and amusing posts on this topic including “the top 10 excuses why I stole your images” and a “wall of shame” of those who have used mine and have refused to communicate with me when contacted about the infringement. Hopefully you have found something helpful in this blog post and would be willing to share your comments and questions below as well as sign up to follow this blog to get more of the dirty little details in the future.

If you have any ideas you would like to see here on this blog please let me know. We still plan on adding at least 2 more one or two day workshops this year but haven’t decided on locations so I would love to hear ideas on that topic as well.

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