January 19, 2012
A little credit?
This photo of my friend Tony in mid-air has over 90,000 views on flickr. What I always wonder is how many more people have seen it on other sites where it has been posted without credit to me as a photographer. Thousands? Millions?
It started when break.com staff stole it without credit and posted it on their site. When I e-mailed them about it, they told me I had to prove the photo was mine, provide model releases, sign a legal contract and then they would pay me $25.
That didn’t sit well with me. Why did I have to prove ownership of my own photo? Shouldn’t they have asked me about it first? I just let it drop, didn’t even bother asking them do take it down.
It has since spread around the interwebs. The other day it came up in a caption contest on a forum that I frequent. I just did a search on tineye that brought up 20 hits, including people using it in posters, avatars and even putting their own credit on the work.
My photos have a generous license. People are free to use, repost, modify and even make money with my images as they see fit. All I ask is for credit back to me, and that if you alter my work as part of your own you keep it under a similar license.
At the end of the day I don’t get too bent out of shape about it. I’m not a pro photographer whose living is at stake. I’m just a guy with a camera, grateful that my photo has gone all over the place and that people are enjoying and sharing it.
Some credit or a link back is not a lot to ask, and it’s always appreciated.
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