I had a person email me to tell me he said he’d seen some of my photos being used elsewhere on someone’s blog without attribution. I went and took a look at the link he provided, and I more or less shrugged it off. I did send an email to the individual and request that he either give recognition or remove, and they were removed eventually. I’ve had a few of my photos used for various projects via requests – one was used for a PowerSmart promo in Northern BC, another for a VisitEngland website, a few for online news websites, a black and white of Lion’s Gate bridge was requested for use in a demo suite for a new hotel and if they win the contract it would be in a number of suites. A friend used a number of my shots for a conference website she put together, and a fellow asked to use an image of a wooden roller coaster for a book on wooden architecture he was writing. I found a couple of my images (via pings and trackbacks) that were being used on personal blogs – in one case there was an attribute, in another there wasn’t but when I sent a quick email, she added one. A local boating magazine used a photo of a wreck that I posted (but which I did not actually take so I ensured that the magazine had the correct information on the photographer – a friend of mine without a Flickr account). And most recently, a photo I took of a piece of artwork in English Bay was requested by Tourism Vancouver. It tickles me when I am asked if my photos can be used for some other purpose.
Since starting to post my images a few years ago I’ve become a lot more sensitive to the use of imagery found on the internet. I’ve stripped anything that I either didn’t take myself, or haven’t requested permission to use, isn’t a free-for-use stock photography/clipart, or is not marked as ‘non-commercial use with attribution’, out of my online courses, out of any printed materials I produce for teaching, and off of the volunteer websites I manage. It came into my mind again a few days ago when someone emailed me requesting permission to use a photo on a volunteer site I manage….it’s a photo that I didn’t take and I posted it so long ago that I don’t recall where it came from. So now I have to go out and take a similar photo to replace it with as it makes me uncomfortable knowing I have an unattributed image in there that keeps coming up (I’ve had three requests for its use).
Many of the images that are being used on websites and blogs that were not taken by the author of the site, should be properly referenced and appropriate attributes provided. Many Flickr photos are marked as All Rights Reserved, and any images that of mine that have been used (save for the poster who passed off some of mine as his own) followed a simple request for use and each photo has a simple attribution that indicates the photographers name and/or website. I think maybe it’s an ignorance in a lot of cases. Many people think that because it is out there on the internet that it is free for the taking and use. And much of it is. But most of it is not. I also think that a lot of people have no idea how much digital information is embedded in the file – things like camera model, date of the image, and often, the original photographers name and copyright information. Information that identifies whether or not a photo is being used by someone other than the original photographer.
It’s something that is becoming more of an issue as more and more content is placed online and more and more people are using that content without permission. Most photographers are flattered at a request, and most will say yes without any charge, just recognition. Remember, someone went through the effort of imagining that image, and then taking it, processing it, and uploading it so others could see it…not steal it and pass it off as their own. That effort shouldn’t be trivialized because you wanted some images for a website/blog/presentation.
I’m not a professional photographer, I do it for fun, and I don’t make any money from my images. But if you use images in digital media, and you didn’t take them yourself, cite the person who created the image or at least identify the website you took them from, their effort is as important to them as your site is to you. And if you don’t at least attribute, it’s plagiarism and theft. And if you are using them on a site that ultimately is for-profit purposes, you really must contact the individual who took the original image and get approval, because it’s even lower to make money from someone else’s work when you didn’t even ask if you could use it.