tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92134463612396272932024-02-06T19:33:22.811-08:00Fair Trade PhotographerFair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-50391876386268962552013-01-13T11:23:00.000-08:002013-01-14T11:32:32.768-08:00Stormy Seas Indeed...On <a href="http://ca.linkedin.com/in/chrisbarton" target="new">LinkedIn</a>, I am a member of the professional group "Stock Photography, buy and sell images" and frequently find it useful for keeping up with what is happening in the stock photo industry.
A couple of weeks ago a group member called 'Stormy Seas' (unusual as most LinkedIn users will provide their real name as it is a business network) posted a new discussion.<br />
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The most relevant parts of his post are shown here:
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<i>Here's the thing......ABANDON THE MICROSTOCK AGENCIES.. even GETTY</i><br />
<i>Stock photo agencies are a complete rip off... </i><br />
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<i>...</i><br />
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<i> Photographer's .... you need to stop selling your works on these microstock agencies and take the marketing of your artwork onto your own shoulders. </i><br />
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<i>...</i><br />
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<i>Before I started marketing my artwork online, I sold nothing. I'm not exaggerating. Zilch zero nada
I applied online marketing strategies to my photography and that's what made the biggest difference.
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<i>...</i><br />
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<i>Take a look at one of my websites: www.walldecorprints.com. I have over 250 websites but take a look at this one.
This site gets about 20 to 25 sales daily. Let me show you how to do this with your site. I don't split commissions or let someone else sell my work. I take on the responsibility to do this and that's why I sell. If you want to sell you have to learn to market online.</i><br />
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Well, it is pretty well known that I share Stormy Seas sentiments on <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.ca/2010/03/microstock-why-would-reputable-company.html" target="new">microstock</a>, and I would agree that fine art photo sales have potential as a source of income for photographers, but the statement that his fine art website averaged "20 to 25 sales daily" really blew me away. Conservatively, that works out at 5,000 art prints sales a year. That is quite an achievement.<br />
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Taking a later figure that Stormy Seas gives of 79 dollars per print, and we are talking about 400,000 dollars a year. Unsurprisingly this got a lot of people in the LinkedIn Group to sit up and take notice.<br />
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Initially, Stormy Seas had some problems with the group moderators as they felt his 'discussion' was actually a well-disguised attempt at promoting services he was offering for sale, but he managed to persuade them to allow the 'discussion'.<br />
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I visited Stormy Seas' website <a href="http://walldecorprints.com/" rel="nofollow" target="new">walldecorprints.com</a> and it looks pretty good, with the fine art prints PhotoShopped into interior shots so it appears as though they are hanging in very classy houses. I assumed the interior shots were probably microstock. Fair enough; I would say this is a good why to present your images in the best possible way and give buyers a good idea of how the images would look in their own homes.<br />
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Stormy Seas' impressive sales record intrigued me and I guessed his website must be very well optimised and marketed, so I used alexa.com and compete.com to check out traffic details for the website. The results I found really puzzled, me so I thought I would ask Stormy Seas on the discussion board:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Stormy Seas, I am intrigued by what you have been saying about your website.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">I did some investigating and find on www.alexa.com that your website </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwalldecorprints%2Ecom&urlhash=nngK&_t=tracking_disc" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="blank">http://walldecorprints.com</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"> has a ranking of 3,150,688. This means there are around 3 million websites out there which get more traffic. The site is ranked so low that Alexa can give no info about possible visitor numbers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">I then tried www.compete.com and your site is given a ranking of 3,506,502 - pretty similar to the Alexa ranking. Compete estimates that your website gets about 84 visitors a month. Of course, this is so low it is hard to say how accurate this is, but the visitor numbers can certainly not be much more substantial than this.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">I am having trouble working out how "Walldecorprints.com gets about 20 sales a day" when the website seems to get less than 100 unique visitors a month. You must be doing something extraordinary."</span><br />
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Stormy Seas replied that the compete.com stats were inaccurate (which is certainly likely at that traffic level) and then posted stats details from the website for the past month:<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">This is Wall Decor Prints traffic just for this month. Just pulled this info from Analytics. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Visits: 726 </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Unique Visitors: 618 </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Pageviews: 4,501 </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Pages / Visit: 6.20 </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Avg. Visit Duration: 00:03:10 </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Bounce Rate: 35.95% </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">% New Visits: 84.02%</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
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Even with this increased number of about 600 visitors a month, to make a sale to pretty much every visitor to the site seems.... quite extraordinary, and I told him so.<br />
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While I had my reservations, a lot of other photographers on the discussion were impressed by what Stormy Seas had said he'd achieved and were clearly keen to see what he could do to help them improve the performance of their own websites and photo sales.</div>
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I was pretty much going to leave it there, until another group member, who apparently shared my reservations, emailed me privately to say that they believed the images on Stormy Seas' website were not his. I found this hard to believe, and took another look at the images. My gut feeling was that they were his images - they were consistent in quality and style, and didn't seem like the sort of images someone would steal and pass off as their own.<br />
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I then twigged that what the photographer actually meant was that the <i>background</i> images were not his. From the start I had not thought they were - they were high quality staged interiors, and quite different from the actual art images. I had just assumed they were licensed microstock images. But then, I began to wonder.....<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOGtWR1_cpw9Li_xWRQb5QK7zDd7zkrlU2ca1YtCG8FOQdgcEKNMGvrWF-aSfTS8ch6meGCfgWe4UwfaXTv2a-ESR7fEfc0jfgob7RCYU_GCzIDN20ahPp6XWTqYoirM7JLdO-mQFPiY/s1600/linkedin1.jp" /></div>
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Stormy Seas then said if I had any questions I should ask him privately, so I did. He then released a series of comments on the discussion board suggesting I was a 'HATER' and finished with the comment:<br />
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 16.666667938232422px;">Why would Chris Barton a director at Photographers Direct a stock agency , try to discredit me ? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 16.666667938232422px;">Ironic, considering I started Photographers Direct due to my low opinion of many stock agencies. My response:</span><br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVZ15KWd9YfYsDclS8_H9n2PjTJLieOk49JSd_5tXODTl6SjQim8n6aMWJCqe3jefUZO5MY1WhkYT40o1cJdGfEej65ks6c4eTB7518YDeqGfBMxN_JszcDDya2rrXuI1DSyW8_3b-6g/s1600/linkedin2.jpg" /></div>
To which Stormy Seas added this extraordinary tirade:
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwCIXN3X5lYTw6pBBqsneIwa4dWlllY-emZNdk3uq9az6DEvxai3Lrf9zqi4nsW9GL-eNzbKcoPl2qMRBaLt7u3uujlhb8gqlbF8FW2OJYNGy3LFYsXUc5PnGOoiKaksfarssXP1cb5g/s1600/linkedin3.jpg" /></div>
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The warning to 'back off' suggested to me that the only purpose of extending this 'olive branch' was to hit me round the head with it if I got too close. ...</div>
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I couldn't see what could cause such an angry and threatening response, so I thought I ought to get another opinion. I asked the group moderator to read through the discussion and let me know if he thought I had been in any way threatening towards Stormy Seas or done anything wrong which might warrant this response.</div>
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The moderator replied <i>"I think you’re not threatening in your postings"</i>.</div>
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At this point it seemed pretty clear that Stormy Seas had something to hide, so I decided to investigate the background images. I used Google <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.ca/2011/06/googles-new-search-by-image-tineye-on.html" target="new">Search By Image</a> to try to trace the sources of the images, and could find no matches on microstock sites. The images did seem to appear regularly on home design blogs and websites, and I soon recognised a pattern. The images tended to originate with furniture designers and manufacturers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7Y6wiTyMGBat5vGID158WE6ebmTFvV9Zs5pWexThlJvM8AODoydb2VvuBN3a0d8WTjhoAqhaEG-Xf-FHyvrRfy_fGq3Nwg6uqbGHO5VSqxu9YZXxKcJtLyOtnsZLLX_3VXQP5Tj2InI/s1600/walldecorprints1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7Y6wiTyMGBat5vGID158WE6ebmTFvV9Zs5pWexThlJvM8AODoydb2VvuBN3a0d8WTjhoAqhaEG-Xf-FHyvrRfy_fGq3Nwg6uqbGHO5VSqxu9YZXxKcJtLyOtnsZLLX_3VXQP5Tj2InI/s320/walldecorprints1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here Stormy Seas has used an image which shows the Canape Tufty Time by Spanish designer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Urquiola" target="new">Patricia Urquiola</a>.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwqpJQ0w_KFdlG2wyvyjNY3V2c0XJgv7l8V2W9skwh2dyKHHa9UGaGGKW-F56ywu_QQQENwoMxE7cAYZk_7_jscDgqX2e86Mf9VUfojwSbve1up-DTmNPVw2Wap7oImKPGTu6PM1CXcY/s1600/original1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwqpJQ0w_KFdlG2wyvyjNY3V2c0XJgv7l8V2W9skwh2dyKHHa9UGaGGKW-F56ywu_QQQENwoMxE7cAYZk_7_jscDgqX2e86Mf9VUfojwSbve1up-DTmNPVw2Wap7oImKPGTu6PM1CXcY/s320/original1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGxQjgeor4qCbaUcOpJfol0vgqLUgp9DamdvAlaoQae0m3PZEDO_qJChZeUZV9ImKThhmwohdMioNLMICsRHSajDJpR93d7kHobyyu5eQ07fQ2u2W7HhGdmwDjPmE3pDo_qVhUMeq3Bk/s1600/walldecorprints2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGxQjgeor4qCbaUcOpJfol0vgqLUgp9DamdvAlaoQae0m3PZEDO_qJChZeUZV9ImKThhmwohdMioNLMICsRHSajDJpR93d7kHobyyu5eQ07fQ2u2W7HhGdmwDjPmE3pDo_qVhUMeq3Bk/s320/walldecorprints2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here Stormy Seas has used an image from the website of the Spanish design company <a href="http://www.bm2000.net/" target="new">BM2000</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZVTWwXtzFDCK1cExPmhOMr0AxBkIGeokUeyFzE0_0JHi_yDZNDYH6NfFwyKiIRQbj9swfYSs9IL7G8JCMukvUKBU28R_2lS5kRnr2t7afXbHLNUyKASqHLr-CRBLesLYsfrUS0h28lc/s1600/original2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZVTWwXtzFDCK1cExPmhOMr0AxBkIGeokUeyFzE0_0JHi_yDZNDYH6NfFwyKiIRQbj9swfYSs9IL7G8JCMukvUKBU28R_2lS5kRnr2t7afXbHLNUyKASqHLr-CRBLesLYsfrUS0h28lc/s320/original2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGMframrMhPuN94t-cW0M9QnBnYSR0uA6pJCb-lTXWt_nKisx_MlStaIsDy3MxlwXhxX15H0SzXd0O3c12UCjkKCXAzfeqDJ9Nj2Z5P8Wq1M0u5Gq_Z89FGibhAQjorBIG2WYch1NCs94/s1600/walldecorprints3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGMframrMhPuN94t-cW0M9QnBnYSR0uA6pJCb-lTXWt_nKisx_MlStaIsDy3MxlwXhxX15H0SzXd0O3c12UCjkKCXAzfeqDJ9Nj2Z5P8Wq1M0u5Gq_Z89FGibhAQjorBIG2WYch1NCs94/s320/walldecorprints3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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To stage this photo, Stormy Seas has used an image from the wallpaper designer <a href="http://www.rasch-tapeten.de/" target="new">Rasch-Tapeten</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilN4mhOX85BwZr4ymXyxvHvY0BmiRH7URwzHH3xq4SkVmf3FHumnN2uggIbiLAVNr8VguVOjJMKgLwkDTyjMw6pCFqDTQqpJ7GxLa05mkJ73REL45jJXczk-hAoQvJS6jN1ZnyR1KUuU/s1600/original3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilN4mhOX85BwZr4ymXyxvHvY0BmiRH7URwzHH3xq4SkVmf3FHumnN2uggIbiLAVNr8VguVOjJMKgLwkDTyjMw6pCFqDTQqpJ7GxLa05mkJ73REL45jJXczk-hAoQvJS6jN1ZnyR1KUuU/s320/original3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGtbpGe0HZWlyyzUKaThcKLSu1l33Pg8ydcV6gkkdK5vvhN1tlUMTJuEb2KsG9qIVogFo56Sz54itTpLjBdSAXCkbs-on_sNOtiqSom_LjWoiHgKQ6XHaMOKdVrG0lUgdDFjI5fS0UYY/s1600/walldecorprints4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGtbpGe0HZWlyyzUKaThcKLSu1l33Pg8ydcV6gkkdK5vvhN1tlUMTJuEb2KsG9qIVogFo56Sz54itTpLjBdSAXCkbs-on_sNOtiqSom_LjWoiHgKQ6XHaMOKdVrG0lUgdDFjI5fS0UYY/s320/walldecorprints4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And the photo of the designer desk used by Stormy Seas here is from the website of the Polish company <a href="http://www.worldlux.pl/" target="new">Worldlux</a> (with the watermark missing, of course).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJVBzEjed_A0XcvP7_aUcF7hwzW988ZeTzaBSOnH6o1Hvsn0ETltCzywulRbUlco1jJViFQKCLeSTyP4_IjVKQHMr-zR-jajQhOisMVBIKZvnb8hAkAjQ9H2C2vJepWmqm7UGEct8HUA/s1600/original4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxJVBzEjed_A0XcvP7_aUcF7hwzW988ZeTzaBSOnH6o1Hvsn0ETltCzywulRbUlco1jJViFQKCLeSTyP4_IjVKQHMr-zR-jajQhOisMVBIKZvnb8hAkAjQ9H2C2vJepWmqm7UGEct8HUA/s320/original4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There seems to be some distortion in the images in terms of squishing or stretching, but they are the same images.</div>
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There are about 120 images like this on Stormy Seas' website, and they are probably all from similar sources. These photos will be copyright of either the product company or the photographer. It is possible that these companies allow their images to be used to promote their products, as long as they are properly credited and linked. </div>
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Would they allow someone to take their images off their website, alter them in PhotoShop and use them to sell another product? I greatly doubt it, and Stormy Seas' angry response, and refusal to answer my question "Where were these images licensed from?" confirms this doubt.</div>
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One last entry from Stormy Seas made it pretty clear what he is up to:</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc10FiJfVWYe7sdEqmyikoKWlL_Zek_9-xYRwBiuDnwJHAwX2myZ2fO4po6H__2HyRpdHiwt1YVTB3_V8k5KZzmutSaqk4Igp5vuZXhJbD0c59Gf13HND3a7KrMJQeoZpUsqJlQInOquw/s1600/stormyseasfluffer.jpg" /></div>
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After this 'sweet talk' from Stormy Seas (I am guessing he has sent equally flattering private messages to others who showed interest in his 'discussion'), the moderator fortunately saw what he was up to and terminated the discussion. Stormy Seas is trying to sell his 'marketing knowledge' to help photographers optimise their websites, increase traffic and make lots of photo/art print sales. However, potential clients should be aware:</div>
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- Stormy Seas' website gets very little traffic</div>
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- Stormy Seas has provided no evidence of the huge art print sales numbers he claims he makes</div>
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- the 100+ background images used to promote Stormy Seas' website do not seem to be licensed</div>
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- Stormy Seas does not use his real name, and uses at least 4 other names/aliases. Why?</div>
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To get some perspective, Stormy Seas is also involved in website 'flipping'. He has bought a large number of domains, and is heavily into promoting the value of '.co' domain names. From my research the evidence suggests that .co domains are seen as largely worthless in the website promotion industry.</div>
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As an example, Stormy Seas has tried to sell the (clearly cybersquatting) domain name kaysjewelry.co - on April 23rd 2012, with 'claimed traffic' of '3000 page views a month' and the provided info:</div>
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"This store is currently recieving a great deal of targeted traffic.... This is a very very valuable domain to own, especially if you wanted to start a jewelry store"</div>
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However, for the website, alexa.com shows:</div>
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<table class="briefdata" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-top-width: 1px; clear: left; color: #2f2f2f; empty-cells: show; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; line-height: 1.8; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 210px;"><tbody style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><th id="alexa-reach-per-million" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;">Reach Per Million</th><td class=" trend-steady" headers="alexa-reach-per-million" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: middle;" title="Steady recently">0.00</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><th id="alexa-page-load-time" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><br /></th><td headers="alexa-page-load-time" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: middle;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><th id="alexa-page-views-per-million" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;">Page Views Per Million</th><td class=" trend-steady" headers="alexa-page-views-per-million" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(217, 217, 217); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none none solid; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: middle;" title="Steady recently">0.00</td></tr>
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Stormy Seas put the domain name and website up for auction (under the name 'walldecorprints' - his website name) valued at <a href="http://www.flipfilter.com/site-overview/127199/1/kaysjewelry.co-websites-for-sale-Flippa" target="new"><b>299,999 dollars</b></a>, and the highest bid it got was..... <a href="http://www.flipfilter.com/site-overview/127199/1/kaysjewelry.co-websites-for-sale-Flippa" target="new"><b>20 dollars</b></a>.</div>
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On all the evidence, I would advise photographers to take anything that Stormy Seas tells them with a large pinch of (sea) salt.</div>
Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-50750051822836946392012-05-07T10:20:00.000-07:002012-05-07T14:13:44.808-07:00Craigslist, AKA stolen or broken: a tale of D Vinnie and Justin MattioliA little while back I got an unexpected email with a link to a 'camera for sale' listing and photo on Craigslist. In the email, J, a photographer friend, had written:<br />
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<i>Guess whose camera this probably is? </i><br />
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<i> That's right. My camera. Stolen out of the house as near as I can tell. Two days ago I had a camera, now there is no camera in our house. No one moved it. It's always in the same spot, but today, it ain't in that spot. </i><br />
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<i> On the 24th we had a pest control guy in because we have a mouse. Now I have no camera. Coincidence that he is here the same day someone breaks in, without leaving a trace of actually forcing their way in? Or he lifted the camera.</i><br />
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We all know that it feels pretty bad when you find out something precious has been stolen, and even worse when it is from your own home. J couldn't be certain that the 'pest control guy' had taken it, and he could not be sure that the camera on Craigslist was his, but it was the same body and lens (not the standard kit lens), and the listing was certainly suspicious:<br />
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<i>nikon d90 body only with battery<br />
no cables no charger<br />
comes with tamron 17-50mm lens<br />
$850 OBO<br />
no low ballers<br />
i am mobile can meet up if you cant<br />
need to sell ASAP</i><br />
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No cables or charger? Need to sell ASAP? These details seemed to say 'stolen'.<br />
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Fortunately J had the serial number of the camera body, so if he could get to see it, he could prove it was his. He contacted the police saying that he could try to arrange a meeting with the seller. The police were:<br />
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<i>...very clear with me, and I quote "it's just a camera, put it on the credit card, don't do anything with the crazies". She pointed out that in addition to them being the type of people that steal stuff for money, they would also know I'm showing up with around $800 if I'm going to buy it. She added that knives and guns are all possibilities.</i><br />
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Sobering thoughts. To try to help out J, I thought I would respond to the craigslist ad, reasoning that the more connections to people who knew the circumstances, the better the chances of actually getting to see the camera, rather than some innocent third party buying it. I could also use a photography related email address, and I thought up a convincing story for why I wanted the camera:<br />
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<i>Hi - saw your ad on Craigslist. I need a backup camera so would be interested in this. I already have a 17-50 lens, so may just want the camera body if possible, but would still consider both otherwise.</i><br />
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That evening I was pretty surprised to get a response:<br />
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<i>hey, was trying to sell both as a package, if its the price your concerned about, im flexible. but would like to sell both in one shot. if your still interested let me know. we can arrange something</i><br />
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I passed the details on to J, who was also surprised as he'd had no reply from the seller. He later realised that he had automatically signed off his email with his initials, and if it was the pest control guy, he would know J's name from the work order, which would explain why he had not replied. The Craiglist ad had also now been pulled by the poster. Interestingly these two factors would later play to our advantage.<br />
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The seller's reply to me would prove to be his undoing. Though it was from an untraceable yahoo email address, the name attached to the email address was 'D Vinnie".<br />
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When I passed this on to J, he immediately replied:<br />
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<i>"Funny, the pest guy's name was Vincenza... not the same, but strangely close."</i><br />
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And his first name started with D.<br />
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Coincidence? I didn't think so. We now appeared to have our smoking gun. 'Vinnie' is likely to be a common nickname for someone called Vincenza, so it seemed pretty likely that we were dealing with the pest control guy, though we had no hard evidence to prove they were one and the same person.<br />
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I carried on a correspondence with 'D Vinnie' in an attempt to extract more info from him while supposedly trying to set up a meeting, but then it went quiet. At this point J decided that he had probably lost his camera for good, and all he could do was go to the pest control company with his suspicions, but no real proof. Before he did, I tried one more email to 'D Vinnie' and surprisingly got a fast response:<br />
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<i>Sorry I was away for the weekend just got back it is still for sale, will let it go for 700 if ur still interested? If ur free tonight we can meet up if you like? Because I will be busy for the next few days. And if ur interested, I would like to see as soon as possible trying to pay for my real estate course.<br />
D</i>
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This not only gave us some more evidence for the pest control company (was their employee doing a real estate course?), but also showed us that the seller had no other buyers. Because J had accidentally signed his enquiry with his initials, which Vincenza would have recognised, he had been spooked into removing the ad from Craigslist very quickly, which now suggested I was his only potential buyer.<br />
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I tried fishing for a mobile phone number or address, but with no luck, and at this point J decided to approach the pest control company.<br />
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J phoned me later that evening. "Guess what I'm holding." He said.<br />
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He had got his camera back.<br />
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That morning J had met with a manager at the pest control company and presented all the evidence we had accumulated connecting 'D Vinnie' with their employee D. Vincenza. The manager was shocked. To his credit it took it really seriously, and told J that he would confront Vincenza with the evidence right away. That afternoon the manager turned up on J's doorstep, with his camera, and a full refund for the pest control work they had done. He explained that he had called in Vincenza for a meeting, told him about all the evidence, and said. "I am going out to lunch now. When I come back I want that camera to be on my desk." And it was.<br />
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Vincenza lost his job, but at least he had made the right decision in returning the camera, and the police did not become involved. The guy had worked at the company for a year and had apparently been a great employee. As J said afterwards "I don't think the guy was a career criminal, I think he just made a really poor decision on the spur of the moment."<br />
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.........<br />
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This extraordinary tale immediately reminded me of a personal experience I had with Craigslist early this year. I have recently taken up Alpine ski touring in relation to a photographic project I am involved with and decided to invest in some used equipment. I had heard that Craiglist was a better option than Ebay as you can deal locally with people and meet them face to face. Pretty soon I found some suitable skis, bindings and skins:<br />
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<i>I've been holding onto a second set of touring gear for friends to join in on the fun. There's a new set of twins coming this year....or next... so I have to clear out the closet.</i><br />
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<i>G3 Reverends with lots of......."hey guys let's go this way" stories 170cm with 126/93/114, they are 6 years old (Original $800)</i><br />
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.......<br />
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<i>Asking $400 with the ski's waxed and ready for the weekend or $350 ready for pickup. Can drop off between Kitsilano and Mt Lehman/ Abbotsford.</i><br />
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This sounded like a good deal, and it was local so I arranged to go see them (seemed a better idea as I would then know where the seller lived if there was any problem). When I arrived at the address in Kitsilano here in Vancouver I found it was an apartment block and I did not know the apartment number, so I had to call the seller, Justin, on his mobile. He came down and met me at the door with the skis. He laid them out in the hall and I had brought some boots I could try them out with. I explained I was pretty new to Alpine touring and asked if there was anything wrong with the skis. He told me no, they were fine - showed me some scratches and where they were worn down but this is to be expected with used skis. From my limited experience they seemed okay and he offered them to me for 300 dollars with the bindings and skins. He had another buyer coming in an hour he said. This of course is a standard sell tactic, which I ignored, but I thought the skis seemed decent enough so I bought them.<br />
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Later that week I took them to a ski store to get them serviced. The counter guy took one look at them and said "Where did you get these?" That didn't sound good.<br />
I told him.<br />
"Ah, Craigslist. I am afraid we call them 'stolen or broken'."<br />
With his expert eye he had immediately spotted fine cracks on the sides of each ski. He told me the cracks would run into the core of the ski and it would have lost its integrity. With a sinking heart I asked him if it was still worth getting them serviced.<br />
He told me that professionally, he couldn't do it. "They will not ski properly. They are potentially dangerous."<br />
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Later I called Justin on his mobile and recounted what the ski store had told me.<br />
In summary, Justin's response was: "Buyer beware... my friend."<br />
I told him he had sold me broken skis and I wanted my money back.<br />
His response? "Put them on Craigslist, like I did."<br />
So even though he undeniably knew that his skis were broken, and dangerous, he still had no qualms about passing them on to someone else....<br />
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Unfortunately (for me at least), I am not willing to 'pay it forward' in this way and am therefore stuck with a set of broken skis I have never used. When I told Justin I was going to write about it, he emailed to say that he would take the skis back... if I paid him 100 dollars. And then of course he could keep his profit and put the skis up for sale on Craigslist again.<br />
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I have learned lessons from this and hope at least I can pass them on to others. In retrospect, I am confident that Justin deliberately set out to deceive, and did what he could to cover his tracks. The details are worth keeping in mind if you are looking to buy items on Craigslist:<br />
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<ul>
<li>In his Craigslist ad, Justin offered to drop off the skis, that way there would be no way to know where he lived or worked.
</li>
<li>He only gave me a mobile phone number - much harder to trace than a landline.
</li>
<li>When I said I wanted to come and see the skis, he gave me a street address, but not the apartment number.
</li>
<li>When I discovered this on arrival and phoned him, Justin met me at the main door, so again I would not know his apartment number.
</li>
<li>He showed me the skis in a dimly lit hallway where they would be hard to study properly.
</li>
<li>Most significantly, I noticed that his email address, which was a Yahoo address and thus untraceable, had the attached name 'Justin'. Thus I did not know his last name, so could not trace him that way.
</li>
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Unfortunately (for Justin), on this last factor, <b>he screwed up</b>. On all our email correspondence his name was simply 'Justin', but when he emailed me to offer to take back the skis if I paid him 100 dollars, the name came up next to the email address as <b>Justin Mattioli</b>. Why had his email signature been 'Justin' all along, and now it was 'Justin Mattioli'? This is something you have to physically change in your email account.<br />
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My theory? Justin Mattioli had reduced his name to 'Justin' to correspond with me so I would not know his full name, and once he thought the deal was done, and he was in the clear, he switched it back to <b>Justin Mattioli</b>. However, when he did send me one final email after I said I was going to write about it, he forgot to change his name and thus accidentally revealed his full identity. Now that seems pretty damning to me.<br />
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So, I believe that Justin Mattioli (of Kitsilano, Vancouver, so there is no confusion) deliberately scammed me, and while there is very little I can do about it, at least I can warn others as he may try to do something similar in the future (and may have done so in the past). So remember, as Justin Mattioli likes to say, Buyer Beware.... my friend.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-26135314303264930172012-01-20T14:52:00.000-08:002012-01-31T08:49:57.403-08:00A photo thief who made me laughA couple of days ago a Kenyan photographer contacted me about representation. He sent me a link to his blog which showed recent weddings and fashion shows he had covered. I thought the images were pretty good, but his most recent blog post, titled "Incredible Kenya... My Kenya" was quite different. It portrayed the world famous wildlife of East Africa from cheetahs and lions to elephants and giraffes. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7vctdGEaDcQQ8HbkuxnDqHK-XEhWhsZHmacuMwQpQ4KK9Vv2J8FjzSsXO9SfeTW0TyzS9W4NGfBK7rI5KkELGdVdMYdwEsooS7qYG0F0f6OQCzmJXWlrPYMOjSPnhlEfMobVhcORt64/s1600/incrediblekenya1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7vctdGEaDcQQ8HbkuxnDqHK-XEhWhsZHmacuMwQpQ4KK9Vv2J8FjzSsXO9SfeTW0TyzS9W4NGfBK7rI5KkELGdVdMYdwEsooS7qYG0F0f6OQCzmJXWlrPYMOjSPnhlEfMobVhcORt64/s400/incrediblekenya1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There were some stunning, low light portraits, and some mediocre washed-out 'safari snaps'. This always seems suspicious to me. If a photographer has produced some excellent images, why pull them down with ho-hum everyday shots? The styles, composition and colours were also pretty varied and made me suspect that the images were not all by the same photographer. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg015M_VkCkNcuahg20_wcm8_w1kE9XKgr2nJWQ2NDSALsSu7Zt_nzwockAZDg7q7czOtIaUDZVeyfPl5z3vq-Pl_lbnRdyCNAXDGdiAQUhUTJtd_7DwaRwUSHsLeH0ujEasVYFQO9MHoM/s1600/incrediblekenya2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg015M_VkCkNcuahg20_wcm8_w1kE9XKgr2nJWQ2NDSALsSu7Zt_nzwockAZDg7q7czOtIaUDZVeyfPl5z3vq-Pl_lbnRdyCNAXDGdiAQUhUTJtd_7DwaRwUSHsLeH0ujEasVYFQO9MHoM/s400/incrediblekenya2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The blog post did not directly claim that the images were taken by him, so I thought it possible he was just displaying images he had found across the web to show off his country (of course, he should at the very least have credited the photographers, assuming that the images were Public Domain). I emailed the photographer asking him if all the wildlife images were his own.<br />
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His reply? <br />
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<i>"Yes there are all my images, taken in Kenya and Tanzania."</i><br />
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Well, to be honest, I didn't believe him, so I decided to investigate the images further. I used <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2011/06/googles-new-search-by-image-tineye-on.html">Google Search By Image</a> to match some of the images, and very quickly found one on Wikipedia which was taken in South Africa and credited to another photographer. Not a good sign. <br />
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Oddly, I kept being pulled back to one image, but I couldn't figure out why. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLj4pFOa-q28lLIK9sXUZmib1qOcFjicleti6pRe0vVwPz9fW0LZXOIeP1U-Z3oNgx7BZ1p8n7V6uGN5WohwmXbYPU_8WXpmAo-p8mi0xYZNoB7E0jI9JwHxjcUgAT3auB4fpt4CVmdo/s1600/incrediblekenya3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLj4pFOa-q28lLIK9sXUZmib1qOcFjicleti6pRe0vVwPz9fW0LZXOIeP1U-Z3oNgx7BZ1p8n7V6uGN5WohwmXbYPU_8WXpmAo-p8mi0xYZNoB7E0jI9JwHxjcUgAT3auB4fpt4CVmdo/s400/incrediblekenya3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It showed (above) a family of elephants by a dusty waterhole, the moment beautifully frozen with the largest elephant eyeing the camera. I studied it closer. Next to them was a carcass, picked clean, but oddly intact. There was no sign of the usual debris you get around African waterholes (dung, rocks, tracks) and the wonderful lighting of the elephants didn't really fit with the washed out midday sky. Then I thought "I've got it! They really are frozen!" I used Google Search By Image to try to find the original source of the image, but as most of the results were from 'free photo wallpaper' sites, I just couldn't find anything useful.<br />
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Then I though of another wonderful feature of Google Search By Image. So I tried the 'visually similar' option and got this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBU3RdC7ULX8FX7xc7o2fjUEex13evYQt5M9SMDmPpg2rAeNto5zNXvdCbCM4tzT-I2caNzC2kBvn-2ZhizoAp4iDsXhGMHnPEI0GIDhanfgJsXxJldc-IX7XkGZQyAS-QJeqCoQI9Ew/s1600/googleelephants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="183" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBU3RdC7ULX8FX7xc7o2fjUEex13evYQt5M9SMDmPpg2rAeNto5zNXvdCbCM4tzT-I2caNzC2kBvn-2ZhizoAp4iDsXhGMHnPEI0GIDhanfgJsXxJldc-IX7XkGZQyAS-QJeqCoQI9Ew/s400/googleelephants.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The first row of images seemed to be all the same (some reversed) but on the second row (circled in red) in the first image, even though the poses of the elephants were unchanged, the top foreground twigs were different. Bingo! <br />
<br />
I clicked on the link and got this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://sandiegojewishworld.com/san-diego-jewish-archives/071224jewish-mon230.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="324" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHs02CwJzuDjKrtWdvCO33fdRmGs0WbE0k9SKR_eL78StXNkuWvWCint4g4GtlNV1X05itndaHwsKOltapzjGHO4sdtoEvblt1phNY9qPIlY3DG7-NEDFkj6pweqza-HYaAHsn7Q3qNf4/s400/sandiegojewishworld.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So it appears the elephants actually 'live' in the <a href="http://www.nhm.org/site/" target="new">Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County</a>. Because the elephants were 'frozen' in their poses, the 'visually similar' option on Google Search By Image found them easily, even though the images were taken at slightly different angles.<br />
<br />
And that made me laugh.<br />
<br />
Here we had a photographer who stole all these images and claimed he had taken them on safari, without realising that one of them was actually a museum exhibit.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, we will not be representing this photographer, but we have quite a few other <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/kenya-photographers.asp" target="new">photographers in Kenya</a> who we <u>can</u> recommend.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE: 24 Jan 2012</b><br />
After reading this blog post, photographer Tom Brownold sent me a message and link:<br />
<br />
<i>"Chris, I followed your link and got a chuckle out of it. Then I went to review the AI-AP show from last year and found this. Made me laugh out loud."</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhxW9Xfq2UaW4j3Ze9BG-7HgR44X-K14v0lo6E_N1LqQ2YKoP-RlaaAK5FCPg4qTUNw9YQ_pwcQoDXLXJzRcY5A20SXGj2I5p0pYwCXcMxiwxMkYQzPB7PT5VmSan30MRdD-S5fxBXHs/s1600/davidzaitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhxW9Xfq2UaW4j3Ze9BG-7HgR44X-K14v0lo6E_N1LqQ2YKoP-RlaaAK5FCPg4qTUNw9YQ_pwcQoDXLXJzRcY5A20SXGj2I5p0pYwCXcMxiwxMkYQzPB7PT5VmSan30MRdD-S5fxBXHs/s400/davidzaitz.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The image is a beautiful shot of the African Mammal Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County by photographer <a href="http://www.ai-ap.com/slideshow/AP/27/#412" target="new"><b>David Zaitz</b></a>, showing an internally lit tent, and... what's that in the background? Oh yes, it's our family of elephants, supposedly photographed in Kenya/Tanzania!Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-75367134271128668802011-12-14T15:58:00.000-08:002011-12-14T15:58:34.444-08:00Stefanie Gordon's 15 minutes of fameThis week Time Magazine announced their Top 10 Photos of the Year:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2011/12/07/time-picks-the-top-10-photos-of-the-year/#9" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="336" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmduTsH_Z5U0algTPOid3vppzOiyEWEOCJO2DDPI2mIEJMlGalbH1x4ABRSce3I41eCkfe7V8Cf-LMz7at7QthH4wrtg98-aFuiIMvG13RJLKjlkENAG-xJfbJOUHvcyC2DIoivj9lPY/s400/time_stefanie_gordon_shuttle_launch.jpg" /></a></div><br />
While the results were dominated by photographs reflecting conflict and revolution in the Middle East and Western Asia, one image stands out as being different. Different because it is an example of 'citizen journalism' and was taken out of a plane window with an iPhone. Stefanie Gordon's images shows the Shuttle launch of May 16, 2011, bursting through the clouds and hurtling towards the stratosphere. Stephanie posted the image on Twitter and it became a social media sensation, being picked up by TV news shows and newspapers across the world. Interestingly, Stephanie became as much a part of the story as the image, with multiple interviews and stories about her (an ironic twist considering that one of the watchwords for journalists and newspapers is "report the story, don't become the story").<br />
<br />
Citizen journalism, both in terms of blogging, twittering and transmitting newsworthy images with phones has exploded over the past couple of years, and combined with other factors, has had a devastating effect on both traditional journalism and photojournalism. Many news organisations, suffering colapses in both their traditional audiences and in advertising revenue have cut back enormously on their spending in these areas, and it has become extremely hard for journalists and photojournalists to make a living.<br />
<br />
However, I think there is some light in this story, for the simple fact that only one of the ten Top Images of the Year was a lucky chance by an amateur in the right place at the right time. Even though there are hundreds of millions of people out there every day, taking hundreds of millions of images, and by sheer weight of numbers having the best opportunity to be "in the right place at the right time", the other nine winning images were all by professional photographers and photojournalists. The odds are stacked against them, but by the fact that they used their skill and experience (and often immense bravery) to get to the right place at the right time, and take the definitive picture of the event, they trumped the odds against them. It is of course tragic that, along with the many local casualties in these conflicts, some very talented people such as Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros (who was one of the winners) should lose their lives under these same circumstances.<br />
<br />
Stefanie Gordon had her fifteen minutes of fame, and will always have a great story to tell about it, but it is unlikely that anything else will come from it. She was merely lucky. <br />
<br />
The last sentence from her interview with Time is both poignant and telling:<br />
<br />
<i>"I am still in search for that perfect job that many thought would be offered to me after the photo caught fire."</i><br />
<br />
Even if she doesn't say that she herself thought she would get a big break from her 15 minutes of fame, and it isn't implicit that the 'perfect job' would be as a photojournalist, the context of the image suggests that this is what people expected. <br />
<br />
I think it is safe to say that Stefanie Gordon's name will never appear again in Time's list of Top 10 Photos of the Year, but the names Yuri Kozyrev, Pedro Pardo, Dominic Nahr, Pete Souza, Adam Ferguson and of course James Nachtwey, may well, and some have in the past. They made their own luck, they spent years in training, in the field, in difficult and dangerous situations, learning what they needed to know to take the iconic images of their time, and often for little reward. They should be commended for their courage and commitment and know that there are many of us who really appreciate and respect what they do, for all of us.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-84168352141595378412011-11-01T11:48:00.000-07:002011-11-09T11:10:19.580-08:00Jam Studios' sticky fingers....A few days ago I was contacted by a <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/scotland/glasgow_city/glasgow-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographer in Glasgow, Scotland</font></a> seeking representation. He provided a link to his website, so I went to take a look. The first thing that seemed odd was the number of spelling errors in the navigation links, titles and text, and the random use of apostrophes. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0FxXPAj7RMxKdnhTP5DAHq7pSJUlXoJMeCaZUfOmmnGnAkymzZd86P0fKrjRZzED1pKCgNXlYzJLdX25kWlQ5AaMXZWkhdNvJEoJdb_keLihefso5ea4-pkh_LJdWwxM1_NgC4jZ9gU/s1600/jamstudios_homepage_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="340" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0FxXPAj7RMxKdnhTP5DAHq7pSJUlXoJMeCaZUfOmmnGnAkymzZd86P0fKrjRZzED1pKCgNXlYzJLdX25kWlQ5AaMXZWkhdNvJEoJdb_keLihefso5ea4-pkh_LJdWwxM1_NgC4jZ9gU/s400/jamstudios_homepage_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
Looking through the website, the photographs showed a variety of different styles, but they ranged in quality from mediocre to excellent. From my experience, this seems very suspicious. If a photographer can produce excellent images, they know that their portfolio will be judged by the weakest images, so they will only promote their very best work. <br />
<br />
Also, it was clear that a fair number of the images were <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photos</font></a>, not personal work. Of course, many businesses use stock photos on their websites, but should a photographer who is promoting themselves as a wedding/portrait/event/corporate/architectural photographer be using stock images on their website? (unless they are their own images of course!) <br />
<br />
To follow up on my suspicions, I turned to Google's <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2011/06/googles-new-search-by-image-tineye-on.html">Search By Image</a> for help. This quickly showed that the headline 'Wedding Package' photo: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWhj3-PRat1RacybTMZDQI-w0odi6G-3EKlXtNdL2JtQcvSCaa6To_7EqPrztbo7BpVCoEe-mIJtshfU-HXod02phyRlwCU6KaEz7w8SYJnyeLChoQT_QvwMh5XGFW3wzefNwToZQNmU/s1600/jamstudios_weddings_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="186" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWhj3-PRat1RacybTMZDQI-w0odi6G-3EKlXtNdL2JtQcvSCaa6To_7EqPrztbo7BpVCoEe-mIJtshfU-HXod02phyRlwCU6KaEz7w8SYJnyeLChoQT_QvwMh5XGFW3wzefNwToZQNmU/s400/jamstudios_weddings_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...is an award-winning image by photographer <b>Joy Marie Smallwood</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgUDsasnW5mH53vQ1ALroSsoGL-SZrIj7K5r6lMMLV4K1AkshkgSy3onLbPGxLbHltswk-k44Aya0cWG43vMrAWWPKMY3jTlexlzO0kYwU3EETDCb4W-EhBdIuCxIAequNcn2tSobuaA/s1600/wedding1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="367" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgUDsasnW5mH53vQ1ALroSsoGL-SZrIj7K5r6lMMLV4K1AkshkgSy3onLbPGxLbHltswk-k44Aya0cWG43vMrAWWPKMY3jTlexlzO0kYwU3EETDCb4W-EhBdIuCxIAequNcn2tSobuaA/s400/wedding1b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The headline 'Photographic Training' image:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadvHeA38F3yeyIvOt6TqKlB4H02y1sZ92z9qOwsDyeClfn-aQOaSoqdQQM_CN6-4U7SC4qIv6t7LE2EjeyH5DcUkbJcxvbDN1-FaEz905t79qYValRV1ceIIzDQOIYAlo1RaRHSqHZFY/s1600/jamstudios_photographictraining1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="189" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadvHeA38F3yeyIvOt6TqKlB4H02y1sZ92z9qOwsDyeClfn-aQOaSoqdQQM_CN6-4U7SC4qIv6t7LE2EjeyH5DcUkbJcxvbDN1-FaEz905t79qYValRV1ceIIzDQOIYAlo1RaRHSqHZFY/s400/jamstudios_photographictraining1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...is by Reuters photojournalist <b>Toby Melville</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyE5lN4Kt3yPbHnRe3Q8bbP9Ud2fypcH29wdYBXNvOoXWyAWU1TMfy-BJDSZiB869uNxAgGSK531vazdN2-Hi4970N-yOUCFyd1Q_KfTgwrnprRfK5_xtWKrHzQ1V0rpS9yR3SUm4ep9I/s1600/storm_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyE5lN4Kt3yPbHnRe3Q8bbP9Ud2fypcH29wdYBXNvOoXWyAWU1TMfy-BJDSZiB869uNxAgGSK531vazdN2-Hi4970N-yOUCFyd1Q_KfTgwrnprRfK5_xtWKrHzQ1V0rpS9yR3SUm4ep9I/s400/storm_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The headline 'Portraiture' image:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoIBV2ogsdkgO_gfYYe0Fx_mxWr97FaAVaErh-C6H_vq_HJkvQBbE10HEIYP-U7JgJUuznsrj8GzqRCZtFHrHPQrK0-r9bryB7FTyVy9ftZyxh4Z0kF7izhS_n4XNwqmmSk5nsSGNA6o/s1600/jamstudios_portraiture1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="327" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoIBV2ogsdkgO_gfYYe0Fx_mxWr97FaAVaErh-C6H_vq_HJkvQBbE10HEIYP-U7JgJUuznsrj8GzqRCZtFHrHPQrK0-r9bryB7FTyVy9ftZyxh4Z0kF7izhS_n4XNwqmmSk5nsSGNA6o/s400/jamstudios_portraiture1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...is by <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/scotland/city_of_edinburgh/edinburgh-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Edinburgh photographer</font></a> <b>Jen Meiklejon</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUa-AWPjPbMFU7OuZRliOtRyzMW3ABSRWphbR3rcaZEGEbqg90Wk4KW3oavigtmqKOtlHJsdabuUm1FWlr8fWyzo2ibZeFHTlJO09H8W5yl7YDcu5Ey91b3811dptjWuopsDseVymIV4/s1600/baby1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="302" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUa-AWPjPbMFU7OuZRliOtRyzMW3ABSRWphbR3rcaZEGEbqg90Wk4KW3oavigtmqKOtlHJsdabuUm1FWlr8fWyzo2ibZeFHTlJO09H8W5yl7YDcu5Ey91b3811dptjWuopsDseVymIV4/s400/baby1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...and the next image is by Chelmsford photographer <b>Dan Rayner</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEied5W7Uk63spPAgAgWgzyQtv1ZLlwDuE0jmd_yFYfxg8LqEDj6vysyKl41Mv3hk4RBM7Opn0axl9Tiv8K1_r_UMfO04zotQ1E_VncpkjVY7PdzpHhTYDEO-WF0mGMi1YkCm3ORUEUo6Qo/s1600/boy1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="263" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEied5W7Uk63spPAgAgWgzyQtv1ZLlwDuE0jmd_yFYfxg8LqEDj6vysyKl41Mv3hk4RBM7Opn0axl9Tiv8K1_r_UMfO04zotQ1E_VncpkjVY7PdzpHhTYDEO-WF0mGMi1YkCm3ORUEUo6Qo/s400/boy1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
One of the '<a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/glamour-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Boudoir Portraits</font></a>':<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4w0QHQXNBPhO6Q20cp32U577pj55oLQOGQdj53mhfi7niKo81tK84HMyFHcb1raRqN1ZfG5xGcb9BsW_Ry88mywrCgI9eyDJMAp3J6PziBPfKUxvt-FJjeG0VcXGyjQTS7zQ4CmJbDw/s1600/jamstudios_portraiture3_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4w0QHQXNBPhO6Q20cp32U577pj55oLQOGQdj53mhfi7niKo81tK84HMyFHcb1raRqN1ZfG5xGcb9BsW_Ry88mywrCgI9eyDJMAp3J6PziBPfKUxvt-FJjeG0VcXGyjQTS7zQ4CmJbDw/s400/jamstudios_portraiture3_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
...is by Associated Press photojournalist <b>Kevin Frayer</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63Ii9AqGgsRTSk6bDiLkXyhmBvZ0bCmE__0aQoZ20kxGpvEO6XyOQJCpM_XDn71LXinKCv_bPzG8nbJvXH_-PWv42UstqfQKecLgQYPZ7oh6lDzZM-gs_a_qZUzFca40t4Xrpr__G3SY/s1600/soldier1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="317" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63Ii9AqGgsRTSk6bDiLkXyhmBvZ0bCmE__0aQoZ20kxGpvEO6XyOQJCpM_XDn71LXinKCv_bPzG8nbJvXH_-PWv42UstqfQKecLgQYPZ7oh6lDzZM-gs_a_qZUzFca40t4Xrpr__G3SY/s400/soldier1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...but I cannot trace the photographer for the other image, though it turns out it is of actress Mena Suvari and was published in UK Marie Claire magazine:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa-AxtHdcuK86eSpj1oYyZM2iftEwSD0FR0X-y1_HiGeQECgbeh68oZX3LMTQXUSN4SQHDbgpOhDiPlaaCI0RV-3H3H8WKKUpv4d_RJp1K1fTVjVL6E3QZEtP1hHDCX4PDiUYUpCO9Pk/s1600/menasuvari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="236" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa-AxtHdcuK86eSpj1oYyZM2iftEwSD0FR0X-y1_HiGeQECgbeh68oZX3LMTQXUSN4SQHDbgpOhDiPlaaCI0RV-3H3H8WKKUpv4d_RJp1K1fTVjVL6E3QZEtP1hHDCX4PDiUYUpCO9Pk/s400/menasuvari.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Could there be a reasonable explanation for all these different photographers' work appearing on Jam Studios' website? There is talk on the website about them representing different photographers worldwide, so it does seem possible. To make sure, I decided to try to contact the photographers I had managed to trace through their images.<br />
<br />
Within 24 hours I got replies from four photographers stating that they know nothing about the Jam Studios website and that <b>their images had been stolen</b>.<br />
<br />
There are a great many more images on the Jam Studios website:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhai1qX8X6tzi4U9KOEBWU4HMWkD-4WbrE-PKB_7z7fIx6bkFOBbRRjfCAgPjGFob7i3FmbfnqrPMhlN1HmGRKitzn-d-gl3gJdsQnAWteqMqyDHgXXQrEYoaozG6JHkByc3qxQWiLTxuI/s1600/jamstudios_trashthedress_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="385" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhai1qX8X6tzi4U9KOEBWU4HMWkD-4WbrE-PKB_7z7fIx6bkFOBbRRjfCAgPjGFob7i3FmbfnqrPMhlN1HmGRKitzn-d-gl3gJdsQnAWteqMqyDHgXXQrEYoaozG6JHkByc3qxQWiLTxuI/s400/jamstudios_trashthedress_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...some of which I have managed to trace to the real photographer, such as Belize wedding photographers <b>Conch Creative</b>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfetzhB_LdCdKlqw1LzoLGJ6J9ugCR3ACGiZ8vPMe46kDnut_fqYfLZyqhHyay4uDFe9vqsNsw9Uhq0Ip7Buc6-Cvr8z-Le2ZUL_QBmyLpVb7yJxnfOcoFCRA4sIePjl0QG-2utEhZ1eo/s1600/wedding2_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="287" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfetzhB_LdCdKlqw1LzoLGJ6J9ugCR3ACGiZ8vPMe46kDnut_fqYfLZyqhHyay4uDFe9vqsNsw9Uhq0Ip7Buc6-Cvr8z-Le2ZUL_QBmyLpVb7yJxnfOcoFCRA4sIePjl0QG-2utEhZ1eo/s400/wedding2_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
With other images:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOCdmY4204GGnaCSs-Yi59g0Gbt78Q6FQwhS7QnNu6ZkK-wQI2hwN7E9PPo8VVJ2ogzxqWGzG4g6GwL1T-YP62zaMA9F7j1QaLU2fyxviGbcBWTv6-5dVelTzMEagDotWj-2djp1usmI/s1600/jamstudios_business_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="342" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOCdmY4204GGnaCSs-Yi59g0Gbt78Q6FQwhS7QnNu6ZkK-wQI2hwN7E9PPo8VVJ2ogzxqWGzG4g6GwL1T-YP62zaMA9F7j1QaLU2fyxviGbcBWTv6-5dVelTzMEagDotWj-2djp1usmI/s400/jamstudios_business_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...I have found alternative sources, but cannot find exactly who the real photographer is:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUj6V5zJhu4b_YobPgPSSFd2N2a2KpzU313WZsDnY2tenMW61miA__m8e1nd5xQx6grzBB-FgfXGMD-YBZfgRNEz9RGxBMtzKTOIIhx0TRrlVkViF_OGXb1xda6z-whTY3-__0twVCro/s1600/football1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="363" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUj6V5zJhu4b_YobPgPSSFd2N2a2KpzU313WZsDnY2tenMW61miA__m8e1nd5xQx6grzBB-FgfXGMD-YBZfgRNEz9RGxBMtzKTOIIhx0TRrlVkViF_OGXb1xda6z-whTY3-__0twVCro/s400/football1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So, if someone knows 'Scott' (his now defunct website was called www.definitivepicture.co.uk) please let me know. Please do the same, if you know the photographer for any of these other images (you can click on each screenshot to see a larger version):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTkqlx45-UHSZG3V-NH5S48Y8ZziCWgF1h9wv3GNu17WoNKzQEL6WgYEwxbghzd3JDSWamb9zaQnF6nNslFKKu7IwV3z5TDbxov3CjT4b8FUHxb0k0Q1MGgU0IhpD5r2UcSxD3xddxKo/s1600/jamstudios_events2_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="234" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTkqlx45-UHSZG3V-NH5S48Y8ZziCWgF1h9wv3GNu17WoNKzQEL6WgYEwxbghzd3JDSWamb9zaQnF6nNslFKKu7IwV3z5TDbxov3CjT4b8FUHxb0k0Q1MGgU0IhpD5r2UcSxD3xddxKo/s400/jamstudios_events2_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DtNQs43glf5bar9jpMJytYl_WbBiub-iwVoHcqhCwyYK3deYya-ifmoORdrew2hqv09OuLEGrf4HS5pzJTM7hEVEvLnCTkwRhYAbnBvAX1yhtjKp00rw6nLYFmMapeJG17pGz7JZ3F0/s1600/jamstudios_photographictraining2_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="344" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DtNQs43glf5bar9jpMJytYl_WbBiub-iwVoHcqhCwyYK3deYya-ifmoORdrew2hqv09OuLEGrf4HS5pzJTM7hEVEvLnCTkwRhYAbnBvAX1yhtjKp00rw6nLYFmMapeJG17pGz7JZ3F0/s400/jamstudios_photographictraining2_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEPPbmOrtFmUDqupZTjRuti80uRPJLZBL_-WDW_KUgDJLZDVberoPlWzc0lEJ9CHiANZmxcuUjfEGDzj2W9E3xmOYVC7rgUCEJ07XpZhh70w_LyAkX-lmoL7JBjRNanh5rPnBUmgPd4hc/s1600/jamstudios_sports1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEPPbmOrtFmUDqupZTjRuti80uRPJLZBL_-WDW_KUgDJLZDVberoPlWzc0lEJ9CHiANZmxcuUjfEGDzj2W9E3xmOYVC7rgUCEJ07XpZhh70w_LyAkX-lmoL7JBjRNanh5rPnBUmgPd4hc/s400/jamstudios_sports1_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZi14OKfucMI3kbtBeprWqJZn6OkR6nyADF_4kHpkXX4UDFxBIodZ2Okxt2kK9n5hk0t04vYbr-MNcp7tGQ9dx_LHhQnfSFgsZ1wX3D6SQT2WTI_eErssQ8D4hojkr5XWrjVkI3RhLjE/s1600/jamstudios_sports2_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZi14OKfucMI3kbtBeprWqJZn6OkR6nyADF_4kHpkXX4UDFxBIodZ2Okxt2kK9n5hk0t04vYbr-MNcp7tGQ9dx_LHhQnfSFgsZ1wX3D6SQT2WTI_eErssQ8D4hojkr5XWrjVkI3RhLjE/s400/jamstudios_sports2_b.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...as it seems likely that many (if not all) have been stolen from the original photographers.<br />
<br />
Why would a 'professional' photographer do this? Someone who really has '33 years experience in the photography business' must know it is infringing another photographer's copyright to take their images and publish them on a commercial website without their permission. Claiming that those images were produced by you (or your 'studio') is even worse! If this photographer has so much experience, why doesn't he show his own images rather than stealing others?<br />
<br />
From a potential customer's point of view this fraudulent behaviour is of major concern. Here is a '<a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/scotland-photographers.asp?studio=y" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">professional photographic studio</font></a>' soliciting paying clients to produce images for them, but many (if not all) of the images showcased on the website were not produced by that studio. When a customer pays good money for photographic work by this studio, what are the results going to be like, and are they going to have any resemblance to what they could expect from the website images? <br />
<br />
With the massive increase in people claiming to be <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/scotland-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">professional photographers</font></a> in recent years, I have seen a lot of recent discussion in industry forums about the need for formal licensing for those calling themselves 'professionals'. While I think this is unlikely to happen (and don't even necessarily think it is a good idea) I think that fraudulent behaviour like this by people claiming to be 'professional photographers' does present a good argument for formal licensing or regulation.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-68814470002287302332011-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:002011-11-09T11:15:34.969-08:00Altered photos as modern artI was looking today at the <a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes1.html" target="new"><b>FATESCAPES / Osudové krajiny</b></a> project by <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/czech_republic-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Czech photographer</font></a> Pavel Maria Smejkal when I discovered another shockingly powerful feature of Google's Search by Image facility.<br />
<br />
Pavel's images are created by taking famous historical photographs of war and removing all human elements from the images. While some of the image sources were immediately obvious to me, such as Robert Capa's 'The Falling Soldier':<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes03.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="224" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pxJmYesEGb-IsUmhkD6K_V2ckVmrOOifX4jhzJqJ9Oxs8LTbDAwP2-ggfR1EMsrJtRNLOLrwXkvaPollaQvsK1kKEB4ibQ223LS6C5Ftq3m9qO8IP6rUYffkrMEmmvcKPo-0KKsjUQ8/s400/fatescapes03.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Yevgeny Khaldei's 'Soviet Flag over the Reichstag':<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes06.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="234" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAheHoir2lFBQUbC_U4AAxtJ1yXJDw89smsfen1T8ACGb0dTVpK_PxqRVmX3pqBWHpgeukk1ctqrihNGOUciaDivfxzEeu_ZwAW3Bvo1aKy7gByGj-121pCnA9qptmyKxqKnB_JzAfLs/s400/fatescapes06.jpg" /></a></div><br />
and Stuart Franklin's 'Tiananmen Square':<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes10.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="227" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_0QuD98wrV3tDmONyneizC2lrF9nEE5YDnJYeaFznI2QQuaEjKMuYMsKFDhM-rPhf8khpuOfg4N5PYrMu7gxEWSnJK3t-wnmvFsRvgHDjHrD5SVuYm9-fqH5UiuvcBEr9XdMFEtCA8I/s400/fatescapes10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...there were others which felt familiar but which I couldn't quite place:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes05.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="248" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9NekQA0PFzBWjABgu17h8VoqSnP_sWlXa56XsRLg-zit3Jp300TfR-axyum5aSgq9PMeHWefDmfTE-srVd3CHP9ta7gkoxlz8yLPRV-iT4frfgzc_33FjNWw_kJvHFuHo1L8BlXtWC8/s400/fatescapes05.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So I wondered if Google's Search by Image could match photos when the most important feature was missing. In this case I was impressed that it could, showing that the source image was Joe Rosenthal's 'Iwo Jima':<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fAe43r-jmX7RN1TUf_KJXfLGs9GxL-j1l_faTKsgnk2XE-CmXJPFabI8DzGTuAeg5TpCvTg17J283zWC9OTHl-8RWM0tQd0pUyOOV_2XZZM2tH_hYv1j2AES6KgrHVJf6AOPss7jirE/s1600/iwojima.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="202" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fAe43r-jmX7RN1TUf_KJXfLGs9GxL-j1l_faTKsgnk2XE-CmXJPFabI8DzGTuAeg5TpCvTg17J283zWC9OTHl-8RWM0tQd0pUyOOV_2XZZM2tH_hYv1j2AES6KgrHVJf6AOPss7jirE/s400/iwojima.jpg" /></a></div><br />
However, in other cases it failed, as with John Filo's image of an anti-Vietnam war protester gunned down outside Kent State University:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photoartcentrum.net/fatescapes08.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="249" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVC55DZtgRzoOMzNnEt4WuuXvZP7SwtfjUPSP_CPyCLKpnuW-tiQam-7818jL1hqVd8WQ4GlMC5ndH3T9dRxBahCo-2gbxlhbX2_CS2teWn-IkuzUn98veWXBOIe-wwEcmJoJZrSjP380/s400/fatescapes08.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In this case, for a human viewer who knows the history of the original, the source is clear as the image has become as (in)famous for the poles as it is for the human content:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://davidfriend.net/2007/04/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="400" width="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXqokusSiLKwQafqF03V3cecZMN3XZuH9dJ0WUSL3-m-6WxtTC4GtMDxlCaSIyxMNKq3QxUVHrogNepVyEuC-Y00YLTdkjuNO2K1i8VDh-vThNVIKnfWntB-t90IdUE_3FJtztDc57ook/s400/kentstate.jpg" /></a></div><br />
.. but as extraordinary as Search by Image is at matching images, in cases like this the altered image is just missing too much of the original content.<br />
<br />
As someone with a reasonable knowledge of the history of photography, I certainly find Pavel Maria Smejkal's work interesting and intriguing. It demonstrates that with modern art, as with many things, the simplest ideas are often the best. Artist Craig Damrauer has expressed this perfectly, and on more than one level:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.20x200.com/art/2010/11/modern-art.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="309" width="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0B898sKiWBJpFnq5pP9yYC2KYVbPD_-FYw3bdiFFGsfAV_yDLtMc2esdYxXnwgaPXS0Nz-3QPsJvMRfEdLOCOoMWLV2bORdxnDKQc79dIc1F4m7QdBKSjuUcnZMCo1tU5Che8IKr1G8s/s400/craigdamrauer.jpg" /></a></div><br />
... but for viewers without that knowledge of the original historical images, I suspect that Smejkal's images will be pretty meaningless. Using Search by Image provides a useful way for the viewer to find the source material, and information about the history of the original images. If modern art can be used in this way to help people gain an interest in and learn about important historical events, I feel that can only be a good thing.<br />
<br />
I have seen a lot of discussion recently about the differences between 'derivative' and 'transformative' work in art, and the copyright implications. Personally I think that Smejkal's work, for all its simplicity, has a far better case for originality than a lot of controversial works by some other very famous and successful modern artists.<br />
<br />
Also, the ability of Google's Search by Image function to spot heavily altered or cropped images will certainly be useful for photographers trying to track down unauthorised uses of their own images, and I am sure that over time Search by Image's matching ability will only improve.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-80874354433691350562011-07-07T13:27:00.000-07:002011-10-19T15:25:17.195-07:00Google's "Search by Image" for investigative journalists....I got an email recently:<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
<i>My name is Zara and I'm a regular reader of photographersdirect.com.<br />
<br />
I'd like to thank you for the excellent information I've found on<br />
photographersdirect.com; it's always a great pleasure to read your articles<br />
and I have subsequently become a loyal reader.<br />
<br />
I live in Scotland where I try to increase the awareness about<br />
renewable energy and solar panels amongst my family and friends.<br />
<br />
It occurred to me that you might be interested in including a<br />
guest article on photographersdirect.com about a new research that shows how<br />
a solar table can charge mobile devices wirelessly.<br />
<br />
For example, I could provide an article in the form of a little guide<br />
to help your readers learn more about this research – hopefully, this<br />
would spark a discussion about the topic at hand.<br />
<br />
Please, take a minute to consider this proposal. Any support<br />
would be much appreciated.<br />
<br />
With your help, we can educate the public about the dangers of fossil<br />
fuels, this hopefully can help increase the awareness about solar panels.<br />
<br />
Either way, thanks for reading and keep posting your excellent<br />
information on photographersdirect.com.<br />
<br />
I hope you have a good week.<br />
<br />
Kind Regards,<br />
Dr. Zara Dobson<br />
Renewable Energy Researcher<br />
Edinburgh, Scotland<br />
Mail: zara_dobson@drdobson.info<br />
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Dr_Zara_Dobson</i><br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
It's certainly a nice email - very complementary and supportive. The only problem is that a computer wrote it. If you analyse it, it is just a spam 'fluffer' email with a bit of personalisation, trying to flatter the reader into publishing an article on their website.<br />
<br />
Taking a couple of key phrases from the email and searching on Google:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=iw#sclient=psy&hl=en&site=webhp&source=hp&q=%22I'm+a+regular+reader+of%22+%22thank+you+for+the+excellent+information%22&pbx=1&oq=%22I'm+a+regular+reader+of%22+%22thank+you+for+the+excellent+information%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=undefined&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1114l1114l0l1l1l0l0l0l0l87l87l1l1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=951974dc3fe285a2&biw=1200&bih=883" target="new">"<i>I'm a regular reader of</i>" "<i>thank you for the excellent information</i>"</a><br />
<br />
...quickly shows thousands of matches of the same email but with a different website name put in each time.<br />
<br />
So why is 'Dr. Zara Dobson' doing this? <br />
<br />
Trying the domain name in the email address (drdobson.info) just redirects to the Twitter account:<br />
<br />
http://twitter.com/Dr_Zara_Dobson<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWK9MDc-4YK37t5KeTC0SLi4Kjh5fEReaz3KZzaZPFigBQLacBZRUNwp5CO5Nu56ZI_4bpagB8TwtN871wnkydCGWGBBHVFQ2uYd09M8L478qm9Urj3o5-wdSsx3xovZfkirCvMTlyGRk/s1600/zaradobsontwitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="218" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWK9MDc-4YK37t5KeTC0SLi4Kjh5fEReaz3KZzaZPFigBQLacBZRUNwp5CO5Nu56ZI_4bpagB8TwtN871wnkydCGWGBBHVFQ2uYd09M8L478qm9Urj3o5-wdSsx3xovZfkirCvMTlyGRk/s400/zaradobsontwitter.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Now, the photo on the Twitter account is immediately suspicious. It just looks too 'stocky'. In this case Google Search by Image doesn't prove that useful as it just shows the same image being used by 'Dr Zara Dobson' on another blog directory. No smoking gun here.<br />
<br />
However, when you look at the source url of the image file on Twitter you get:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1412784251/erin_mckenzie.jpg" target="new">http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1412784251/erin_mckenzie.jpg</a><br />
<br />
If this is Doctor Zara Dobson, why is the image file called erin_mckenzie.jpg? Who is Erin Mckenzie?<br />
<br />
I am now beginning to wonder if Doctor Zara Dobson really exists. She has over 60 followers on Twitter, so I would be interested to hear from any who have actually met her! I suspect they have been hoodwinked into following a non-existent person.<br />
<br />
Searching on Google for "Zara Dobson" comes up with quite a list, and it seems even <a href="http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/07/you-want-to-wirelessly-re-charge-your-tools-solar-news-by-dr-zara-dobson-july-3-2011/" target="new"><b>respectable online newspapers</b></a> have been fooled into publishing these 'articles':<br />
<br />
One of the most useful techniques in investigative journalism is 'follow the money'. In terms of websites and online articles like this, the key is to 'follow the links', because that is where the money comes in.<br />
<br />
The links in the 'article' lead to a couple of personal blogs about <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/stockimages/s/solar_panels.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">solar panels</font></a>:<br />
<br />
http://www.poolsolarpanels.org<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRl76gIQZqX-yQ-oVw6AYXX4Rc1izpnWTUqSWulgLPasd0KfYLQP5AVC2e8D0i1C84ojI3Vf4pcsDm4GNlNxqVwexD7Gwcmo5VFR6CH40QEXPegna7_kaD_wsPGaTKk4l_CmgdLOmfr5M/s1600/poolsolarpanelsorg_about.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="352" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRl76gIQZqX-yQ-oVw6AYXX4Rc1izpnWTUqSWulgLPasd0KfYLQP5AVC2e8D0i1C84ojI3Vf4pcsDm4GNlNxqVwexD7Gwcmo5VFR6CH40QEXPegna7_kaD_wsPGaTKk4l_CmgdLOmfr5M/s400/poolsolarpanelsorg_about.jpg" /></a></div><br />
but what is immediately suspicious is that even though the blogs are by different people, the design is very similar:<br />
<br />
http://www.12voltsolarpanels.net<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgvk5JLajzgTmRHBW-rBiudORqONFe3ukP4ddpjJABlKuM2fWdtL1K9z0ghel7rKk-ho73NMD6li1XH9hyphenhyphenzu3tiTI9uR31iNdm9847hyphenhyphen9AEpBj8GZBV22zuYwUQo3auzWg0Z78qLTp9k/s1600/12voltsolarpanelsnet_about.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgvk5JLajzgTmRHBW-rBiudORqONFe3ukP4ddpjJABlKuM2fWdtL1K9z0ghel7rKk-ho73NMD6li1XH9hyphenhyphenzu3tiTI9uR31iNdm9847hyphenhyphen9AEpBj8GZBV22zuYwUQo3auzWg0Z78qLTp9k/s400/12voltsolarpanelsnet_about.jpg" /></a></div><br />
and then when you read the 'about' sections you see that, even though one blog is written by 'Rosalind' and one by 'Hettie', they <u>both</u> say "<i>Prior to getting married, I spent over 3 years as a teacher’s assistant.</i>"<br />
<br />
With a bit of research, you then find more...<br />
<br />
http://www.solarwaterfountains.org<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vrvX2knROL8opp9Jo52NWsb2s22u20tdQcVjkgwzKgKf8nmRQQnOiR1TEQ7MbkGG4kGBLufVv575MPS14B2LElX_2hh_YqiopRXA_IdF-AYry1tUkjaXe9MmEpCXTycYf028jB1Vevo/s1600/solarwaterfountainsorg_about.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="313" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vrvX2knROL8opp9Jo52NWsb2s22u20tdQcVjkgwzKgKf8nmRQQnOiR1TEQ7MbkGG4kGBLufVv575MPS14B2LElX_2hh_YqiopRXA_IdF-AYry1tUkjaXe9MmEpCXTycYf028jB1Vevo/s400/solarwaterfountainsorg_about.jpg" /></a></div><br />
and more...<br />
<br />
http://www.residentialsolarpanels.org<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KN2ZgPU9whL1AsARoZ6P2P5GeP5S4oIc9cH7NH18P3yCH9QxGvty2lrC4_wAlAMojkbmtQTxqvT-9X66vdjgxbBOgx-jMc_qz_T73qvlRImooP-KpySvCOc4_pqEvc1onMaQvRarl3g/s1600/residentialsolarpanelsorg_about.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="241" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KN2ZgPU9whL1AsARoZ6P2P5GeP5S4oIc9cH7NH18P3yCH9QxGvty2lrC4_wAlAMojkbmtQTxqvT-9X66vdjgxbBOgx-jMc_qz_T73qvlRImooP-KpySvCOc4_pqEvc1onMaQvRarl3g/s400/residentialsolarpanelsorg_about.jpg" /></a></div><br />
and more!<br />
<br />
http://solarcharger.org.uk<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitve2OyQ1hjC94utc5OAJ2oeLX6A_i-UtLyGWZfOvqpBx-XPP5mCTJYzYAppKs0JFt88YTsSx0xYtNbz9F69SgN0y34PMsarwdScdrhvYWKwbJo8P5vpG5uciGfYZu5Y_XEyAnnJgNpHo/s1600/solarchargerorg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="307" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitve2OyQ1hjC94utc5OAJ2oeLX6A_i-UtLyGWZfOvqpBx-XPP5mCTJYzYAppKs0JFt88YTsSx0xYtNbz9F69SgN0y34PMsarwdScdrhvYWKwbJo8P5vpG5uciGfYZu5Y_XEyAnnJgNpHo/s400/solarchargerorg.jpg" /></a></div><br />
...very similar 'personal' blogs, and you really have to wonder what is going on.<br />
<br />
When you compare the 'About' text you get:<br />
<br />
<i>I write solarcharger.org.uk to help you get all the information to raise the awareness on energy efficiency and solar energy.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I write Residentialsolarpanels.org to help You get info to make the transition from a full-time energy dependent to successful energy efficiency.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I write www.solarwaterfountains.org to help you get all information you need to design an eco friendly garden and protect birds.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I write 12voltsolarpanels.net to help you get info to make the transition from a full-time energy dependency to successful energy efficiency.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I write poolsolarpanels.org to help you get info to make the transition from a full-time energy dependency to successful energy efficiency.</i><br />
<br />
and:<br />
<br />
<i>Prior to getting married, I spent over 2 years as a teacher, corporate trainer and workshop leader.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Prior to raising my family, I spent over 3 years as a teacher and workshop leader.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Prior to raising my family, I spent over ten years as a teacher, corporate trainer and workshop leader.</i><br />
<br />
It is clear that all these blogs have been written by the same person, not the people in the pictures. So who are those people in the pictures? This is where <a href="http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=ii" target="new"><b>Google's Search by Image</b></a> proves REALLY useful. By checking the profile <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/headshots-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">headshots</font></a> you quickly find that they are of people with completely different names. Are these people writing under pseudonyms or have the images just been stolen off Facebook profiles and other sites?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOnwoqg8C64HEcUoqTmCfT3ScxK_AKXAdeiUMZz2-oDlxUYigCVDzl13wDlbWJJVFS685sihFaknNCGfyVlb92KG0hTVZqyI_YpmfNAUBe-IUcpmFhUqKED-W2CmQddprz_k5tgbrQa0/s1600/poolsolarpanelsorg_realperson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="259" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOnwoqg8C64HEcUoqTmCfT3ScxK_AKXAdeiUMZz2-oDlxUYigCVDzl13wDlbWJJVFS685sihFaknNCGfyVlb92KG0hTVZqyI_YpmfNAUBe-IUcpmFhUqKED-W2CmQddprz_k5tgbrQa0/s400/poolsolarpanelsorg_realperson.jpg" /></a></div><br />
real person and profile<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5rWj1IM2t28dUesVoQZtzqhY6-RZI77zHYhRjcdO4KU7bazvnyeDpr2MKKRbxtI1RYgDUj5GHicUau7FzcgcxUS7jCjchwOKIBKNVnXixop_NYd_hKZkjHZxw5UUiK5QMoyvlged0FQ/s1600/solarchargerorg_realperson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="267" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5rWj1IM2t28dUesVoQZtzqhY6-RZI77zHYhRjcdO4KU7bazvnyeDpr2MKKRbxtI1RYgDUj5GHicUau7FzcgcxUS7jCjchwOKIBKNVnXixop_NYd_hKZkjHZxw5UUiK5QMoyvlged0FQ/s400/solarchargerorg_realperson.jpg" /></a></div><br />
real person and profile<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18T6gkhXCoefHOkkhS1IYYRBIevAqS9a86VP0T44pnYtNKVS-ox9oIn85-IovZlXykhBSODlMizfLmrfwSJNPfpPFZyiBEtbQgTHv2pUD9wFj3JylmLettzKQ5XRNKk4XfPK9TNT2qu0/s1600/residentialsolarpanelsorg_realperson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="400" width="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18T6gkhXCoefHOkkhS1IYYRBIevAqS9a86VP0T44pnYtNKVS-ox9oIn85-IovZlXykhBSODlMizfLmrfwSJNPfpPFZyiBEtbQgTHv2pUD9wFj3JylmLettzKQ5XRNKk4XfPK9TNT2qu0/s400/residentialsolarpanelsorg_realperson.jpg" /></a></div><br />
real person and profile<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsqFMlL05EL4LdfVm77nTkJHiDoP2I1B9dNOKopR3DsYGCbtS5MMgw7zEyx4I51bvg640Qbne1e-eTR8UvcixTxd9NDDW_q9-JBk4aqGUkOM54A1HB8eLe-2VuRYTWdYsTZtNhsI_FXg/s1600/solarwaterfountainsorg_realperson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="400" width="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsqFMlL05EL4LdfVm77nTkJHiDoP2I1B9dNOKopR3DsYGCbtS5MMgw7zEyx4I51bvg640Qbne1e-eTR8UvcixTxd9NDDW_q9-JBk4aqGUkOM54A1HB8eLe-2VuRYTWdYsTZtNhsI_FXg/s400/solarwaterfountainsorg_realperson.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So... I have tried contacting these people to check. So far I have had one response confirming that the image was stolen, so I think it is reasonable to assume that all these images were stolen.<br />
<br />
In summary, the 5 'solar' blogs shown above are all fake, and built on criminal activity (theft, copyright infringement, misrepresentation...) and whoever is behind them has fooled respectable people and businesses into unwittingly becoming part of this illegal behaviour:<br />
<br />
this is <u>not</u> Shannon Combs:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3d4BCcUIkOyS8MSrUoTaZ4xBXqOegRpgixWf8YZJ19ge2dLh6HyT1SkNRIVvKTMQxhFeWTlCT08qdtV3DK_6gfpIKgENn72bthUs8cEUwDIzJ_9Y6E-jdimeP7jPg40CbC7JyROlHS40/s1600/mindzlecom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="297" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3d4BCcUIkOyS8MSrUoTaZ4xBXqOegRpgixWf8YZJ19ge2dLh6HyT1SkNRIVvKTMQxhFeWTlCT08qdtV3DK_6gfpIKgENn72bthUs8cEUwDIzJ_9Y6E-jdimeP7jPg40CbC7JyROlHS40/s400/mindzlecom.jpg" /></a></div><br />
this is <u>not</u> Barbara Young:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53EX5gE7D7zh1S1gjwH1TJG8p6gmCBPaNaXPYwRkcW8pAlqMFQ785mVUDLVs5qXonMjd19STLwopZduBfrLI0VxlKCzDAMNSzgFtY_heT1LWrfLlxHuoJVZEyQNNHrNIyIIc8GE3K63A/s1600/paulagracedesigns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em" target="new"><img border="0" height="306" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53EX5gE7D7zh1S1gjwH1TJG8p6gmCBPaNaXPYwRkcW8pAlqMFQ785mVUDLVs5qXonMjd19STLwopZduBfrLI0VxlKCzDAMNSzgFtY_heT1LWrfLlxHuoJVZEyQNNHrNIyIIc8GE3K63A/s400/paulagracedesigns.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So, why has someone gone to all this effort? It may be a marketer trying to built 'authority' websites with lots of links, to make money from the Google Adverts on the pages (I would have thought misrepresentation like this must be against Google's terms and conditions?). On the other hand, do the companies whose products are mentioned/promoted on these blogs know anything about it? Whether they do or not, I can't imagine it is in their interests to be associated with these websites.<br />
<br />
And who is behind it all? I will leave that to the <u>real</u> investigative journalists out there!<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 20 August 2011</b>: checking Google Search by Image again, I now find that it has found more matches for the Dr Zara Dobson portrait image, including an example which proves it is a stock image!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.123rf.com/photo_9480765_woman-engineer-checking-solar-panels-setup.html" rel="nofollow" target="new">proof that the image of Dr Zara Dobson is a stock image</a><br />
<br />
Also, the stolen <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portrait-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">portrait photos</font></a> in the 'About' sections on all these fake blogs have disappeared and the text has been changed to <i>"Hi, I’m Enrico and I write..."</i>. It appears whoever is behind all these fake blogs has become aware that their illegal activity has been exposed and they are now trying to cover their tracks.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-13364960694794056122011-06-15T09:42:00.000-07:002011-06-16T07:49:06.080-07:00Google's new Search By Image: TinEye on Steroids!I have written before about the wonderful <a href="http://www.tineye.com" target="new"><b>TinEye</b></a> and how it can be a very useful tool to both trace your own images across the web, and also to <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/04/microstock-how-to-avoid-poisonous.html" target="new"><b>find possible conflicting uses</b></a> when you are looking to use a <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock image</font></a> commercially. Well, now we have Google's new service, <b>Search By Image</b>.<br />
<br />
If you use Chrome or Firefox as your browser, when you go to <a href="http://images.google.com" target="new">http://images.google.com</a> you should now see a little camera icon in the search box:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-xK3e1Wi-qVqlLKAQpmWUFeYTAPoq69cmaGhOo3oJ7h3mVa5l2vDFjcjMzb3NbseXTtb8IuUXgxGixAjMo3HDbh3kKUkGWnmAR3kIWr_jZL0xxyNhjoSdKvJcDLcsz-Aqdh8Ar6zBDc/s1600/google_search_by_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-xK3e1Wi-qVqlLKAQpmWUFeYTAPoq69cmaGhOo3oJ7h3mVa5l2vDFjcjMzb3NbseXTtb8IuUXgxGixAjMo3HDbh3kKUkGWnmAR3kIWr_jZL0xxyNhjoSdKvJcDLcsz-Aqdh8Ar6zBDc/s400/google_search_by_image.jpg" width="600"/></a></div><br />
If you click on the camera icon you get a popup:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPBNHPQp92pYulLlx-3OcD5XpOAGWhG-vWTt4HTA-mnFY2wTjgU41WgHFqfdWrWHf3GxbjgY4P7M3MgpL3jXpLrZ9w6WIDYP5IZvA6pcbRtM9-78tlzbIFuXPvKbaSn2CuBy27HqQPl8/s1600/google_search_by_image_popup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPBNHPQp92pYulLlx-3OcD5XpOAGWhG-vWTt4HTA-mnFY2wTjgU41WgHFqfdWrWHf3GxbjgY4P7M3MgpL3jXpLrZ9w6WIDYP5IZvA6pcbRtM9-78tlzbIFuXPvKbaSn2CuBy27HqQPl8/s400/google_search_by_image_popup.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Where you can copy an image url, upload an image or even drag an image!<br />
<br />
So I tried it out with one of my older images of <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/cbtp/stockphoto.asp?imageid=68476" target="new"><b>Tuareg tribesmen in the Sahara</b></a>, and clicked 'Search Images'.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.google.com/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZistVKVQjKTPwpCqiHm1M7UuRooqOEHUkR4Zht4tVlD5XO6C0nppq4hFMZQrBoBHvhdTImcSEDleBjORVgcxSQc2TC4kM87gUsGdC_1ZCpdl7Ij9Q1tuOwjFbsmEanVOtyDjwMJmvDvl21_1AhfJrsz6IBSNbQFQ5c-a7RAJIMgrXPTPtSDKyPgwD-YbSWC4gGFK-0yuE_1a-nNGIVj4SfZ07dbV5XDIUFSFJFPRGXEeiAl2nn1XycMXeyIuC3_1-3yYPgufxl4W_1HkJgenblno5ft7LfKR5rzoGZoP9DFt8SH5shKKDMNsK_1_1zZu0I2_1uhUPsZEiA5f6avIuCYU_1YWC518-cxMdJ12RN2n3zLgyKLwo15MEgGbhVcGFWusSK9J4ERJcaNXb8n4NrjVISe-TZWA0DICWzfRhDRdY65hzgNJkWmA57YIN0NeK0h4EYaBMyDQi5NiZnkla9PseMqTsRwErnwDOTZ8xWtTKN8Pj_1zWGXElPa4aY8ar8mNDc4eKtW81hoji-SmARkeSPCMOl2JO7NupzKNYU_1MxK4HWRHGZK6doH5RyVsT7VgE7Kgxa1ZGmJRtsF33PyH7CwT-efZBH1U3s8_1UUOnU0DepDAa4eTLWLqR5daM-vowPptkQg1LfPy_1B0UkrN7AHJM_1vojCGsAvxXko51zIjKeU0P4D6hDTux9mBGjxvKW0KuY6kE4gm4Pw9YIYD1DyBs2yVRn4419aDYpoJ-dYNsi1_1e7_1pqao7faRWcaGhx8o4XiYq7Pi1EK97xSH7ljWWAy1KAqdIPb6Drv-ccxj0CeQhiI-GSZLbXdMaBZpTc-CL9eUKEVMWX-kvIidgd7bcQgPhIB5z2exkhNZVQ3URBTUNwNxbf5bESvWSwAJz6aEdqBmcRGXOxEMpNiT5lTyai83uPE2paEog2PnTOF9vt4hOMdqEVU8oQxkDmvEVYv-XkF-lDsXAdehtI46XVYPtab345BIPNkvgBSH2XQtMsByL53NlUj5wjRSeQTObGPGCyW26vwASBx7rJVnamJgx7YGV60IE3fHydXbQCnklgXqg5DxxLC_11AeOH83m1DbhkEsHDxHsShIq6QgdHc9-TAb912kRBkYptpW6agcEGwKAwEzqOql9mqPFwUpdkRiOdWEr5JJ3OFub_1jftJ6_1rSRSHWiws5yBdgePm_1brMSQiySodMdpVvehl9wSn0N8yjNgmDPRO4C2bY_1pyW7qoWRMfjGUD7o7CSTXcmDqU10afYqwBRpqbJ5sLAni3zmXq-_1UMscMwljtvm6HLkAeaSkTiijrez11uFixCY97X3ix6ywTadkhJ55gCXAWFk0tITruxXqtjAR0F5Pjf9EhsSgTdXGUSSgDnrd7nNxmcylq-7fGqYrk45Cj3k3s&num=10&hl=en" target="new"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDa-SaNhLaAJFsmJ73RxQDh35DYEtzuR44tC3UfzmPt_Z7bRrVx7bU2LM9OUNjgcA7wRC15h9yVnx-xfj4iRwpoEROVCeHcca_3Nfn3Mb1mMJytmGa_0BQLIPvTT5AmEJP08c2tmoOJ_M/s400/google_search_by_image_results.jpg" width="600"/></a></div><br />
Now here we are interested in the image results rather than the text results. If you click on "Find other sizes of this image: All sizes" you get:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkshiurheEyFhmEwp2mrXHiFw6XmE076tTVJnnwKsfp346dzBJN7FSKtIjO1pepo5WsjPESMZXOyFxBP57fhcYfQvDgq0NdKaPrbPi5JFcluvFnaRvowcnzbJWJa-w0rf4Dle3iNbcMxs/s1600/google_search_by_image_results_images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkshiurheEyFhmEwp2mrXHiFw6XmE076tTVJnnwKsfp346dzBJN7FSKtIjO1pepo5WsjPESMZXOyFxBP57fhcYfQvDgq0NdKaPrbPi5JFcluvFnaRvowcnzbJWJa-w0rf4Dle3iNbcMxs/s400/google_search_by_image_results_images.jpg" width="600"/></a></div><br />
Wow.<br />
<br />
If you roll over an image it shows you the website where it was found. The vast majority of these uses are unauthorised.<br />
<br />
Also, back on the previous Google results page it shows 'Pages that include matching images'. This shows page after page after page of matches:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdBR-ndqEZXjTfUXps57nmT_nXRaZyshT01Ue3ihas0oeqbe96VrIMRuAosj4KsIrvB7EyGntOPf8KBqUNWNym_Ogo5rlCqIZlFa_LnO5sHniGkRh2MrFKvZwNwsUoxalUdLB6_2xcpQ/s1600/google_search_by_image_results_pages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdBR-ndqEZXjTfUXps57nmT_nXRaZyshT01Ue3ihas0oeqbe96VrIMRuAosj4KsIrvB7EyGntOPf8KBqUNWNym_Ogo5rlCqIZlFa_LnO5sHniGkRh2MrFKvZwNwsUoxalUdLB6_2xcpQ/s400/google_search_by_image_results_pages.jpg" width="600"/></a></div><br />
A lot of these results are blogs and personal pages, and probably not worth chasing up on copyright infringement (though it would be nice to at least get a credit and link to the original!) but if (among others) the rather fancy looking <b>Montillon Hotel and Resorts</b>:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT5IcNflDdrX2O2sT_dWffQdv2VRJq5ePRGX5IYwUmb8tp10a5_bGTW18npCAdesUHYCFD8xlIF8N1Fj0tCgAUSuGGmcPaSYafGnVu6savqi27nBBokuXo1gm6AFEHO98mU82fA_fzRA/s1600/google_search_by_image_montillon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwT5IcNflDdrX2O2sT_dWffQdv2VRJq5ePRGX5IYwUmb8tp10a5_bGTW18npCAdesUHYCFD8xlIF8N1Fj0tCgAUSuGGmcPaSYafGnVu6savqi27nBBokuXo1gm6AFEHO98mU82fA_fzRA/s400/google_search_by_image_montillon.jpg" width="600"/></a></div><br />
...cannot produce a valid licensing agreement for this image, they are going to get a big bill for this unauthorised commercial use.<br />
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<b>TinEye</b> has been a useful tool for a while, and has indexed <b>2 billion images</b>, but I would estimate that <b>Google Images</b> has around <b>10 billion images</b> in their index. It is clear that <b>Google's Search By Image</b> tool is going to be extremely valuable in helping <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a> find the companies which are using their images without permission or payment.<br />
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If any other photographers have some good examples of how Google's Search By Image has helped them track unauthorised uses of their images by companies, please add them to the comments section below.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-71754625635970564572011-02-07T18:00:00.000-08:002011-02-07T18:00:16.447-08:00Travel Ink / LatitudeStock updateUpdate 7 February 2011<br />
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The Director of LatitudeStock has contacted me directly to try to sort out the issues I detailed in my previous blogpost. She does not have the full details yet, but it appears to have been an unfortunate oversight and my images should not have been transferred to their new site. She believes that there have been no sales of my images, and will confirm this tomorrow, as well as giving me a full account of what happened.<br />
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From our conversation I hope this can be resolved amicably and the agency can find how to avoid anything like this happening in the future.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-85803249501931081412011-02-02T09:19:00.000-08:002011-02-02T09:34:15.782-08:00hiybbprqag / hiybbprqughiybbprqag is today's word of the day! It seems that Bing (Microsoft's search engine) is being accused of copying Google's search results and Google set up some fake pages, including one about seating at a theatre in <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/united_states/california/los_angeles-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Los Angeles</font></a> with the non-existant word 'hiybbprqag' to catch them (though the BBC is now reporting that the word was 'hiybbprqug' - oops!) It appears that the same result later showed up in Bing's search results even though the only link to the page was from Google's search results....<br />
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This is an area of '<a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/industrial-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">industrial</font></a> espionage' and cheating which strikes a chord with me personally, as I have seen similar methods used by competitors in the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photography</font></a> industry. At the more benign end it has been other agencies blatantly copying my ideas for site developments and new services, while at the other end there has been the attempted theft of confidential data. <br />
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One photo agency was caught by a similar 'sting' (we had unique data 'seeded' which could only be accessible from a private part of our site, and that data was used to solicit new customers and <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a> by this other agency). When confronted, the CEO denied all knowledge and promised to investigate when he was sent the evidence. He never got back to us. Interestingly, he left the company 2 months later.<br />
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I believe innovation and original ideas are the only way for a business to survive in the longterm and I find it shameful that there are people and businesses out there which try to get ahead by unethical, if not downright illegal means.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-66877558994813668082010-09-14T14:57:00.000-07:002011-01-26T08:37:36.081-08:00Don't laugh at the istockersA Clash Of Cultures<br />
<br />
There has been a big reaction to istockphoto's recent announcement that their current business model 'is unsustainable' and the consequent drops in commission rate payouts they are introducing. It has ranged from a huge outpouring of disgust and hate from istock's microstock contributors to a lot of smug 'told you so' glee on the side of traditional <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/stock-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photographers</font></a> and agencies.<br />
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But you know who is really laughing, quietly, in the background? Getty Images. Because their ruse has worked, and both groups of commentators seem to have fallen for it.<br />
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Istockphoto was built as a community. The original very low payout of 20% was the direct result of a business model based on being cheap. To be able to sustain the business when selling a product very cheaply it was necessary to take a uniquely large cut of the low per-image earnings. However, the community was designed to reward its members. As they helped the business to grow and be successful, the community was rewarded with a larger percentage of the earnings from their <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock images</font></a>.<br />
<br />
Then istock was bought by Getty Images. <br />
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Getty Images has a different business philosophy which has nothing to with community or recognising the value of their suppliers, it is purely about profit. I have no doubt that istock is hugely profitable for Getty Images, and that their profits are increasing year on year, but Getty Images sees it in a different way. Because the istock community is rewarded over time with increasing percentages, and even though Getty Images is increasing their profit, they see that their percentage profit of the total income is decreasing. And because Getty Images is all about profit, not about supporting a community, this results in a Clash of Cultures. Getty's business philosophy just does not fit with the istock community philosophy.<br />
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Supposedly the percentage payouts of istock (even though they are lower than just about every other agency in the business) are 'unsustainable'. The vast majority of non-exclusive contributors are having their royalties reduced from 20% to 15%. So Getty earning 85% of the earnings is sustainable, but earning 80% isn't? This just does not wash, particularly when they take a smaller cut on exclusive sales. There seems to be two basic aims of the royalty split changes at istock. The first is to increase the overall profit of Getty and reduce the payouts to contributors, and the second is to make it less and less atttractive to be non-exclusive. Why? <br />
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<a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/sellers/microstock_sites.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Microstock</font></a> has become a race to the bottom. This is what is really unsustainable. 'Traditional' microstock agencies like istock are being undercut by sites offering 'all you can eat' microstock subscriptions. Another fly in the ointment are microstock 'price comparison' sites. These make it easy to compare the price of the same image across multiple sites, and this makes istock look (relatively) expensive. The only way to combat this issue is to have exclusive content, so that it cannot be bought cheaper elsewhere, and that is why istock is making non-exclusive less and less attractive to the contributor.<br />
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As far as I see it, this has nothing to do with microstock being 'unsustainable', it is simply Getty Images returning to their old tried and tested business model based on the 'frog in the pot' experiment. Put a frog in a pot of cold water and turn on the heat. When does the frog jump out? It doesn't, it just sits there as it slowly gets hotter and hotter, until it gets boiled alive. Getty has done this to their traditional photography suppliers and are now doing the same thing to their istock contributors, because they know the vast majority do not have the guts to jump.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-50087549853499905052010-04-23T15:25:00.000-07:002010-04-25T09:06:00.564-07:00BBC reports on "World's Unluckiest Woman"For the past ten years the BBC, possibly the most respected news source in the world, has been following the 'fortunes' of an otherwise ordinary person who has been dubbed by the press <nobr><b>"The World's Unluckiest Woman"</b></nobr>.<br />
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<b>Dee Safortunado</b> of Scunthorpe, England first came to the attention of scientists early in the new millenium when it was discovered that she was the <b>only person</b> to have actually caught the much-feared <b>Y2K Bug</b>.<br />
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In <b>December 2002,</b> when the BBC reported that British Telecom was the most complained about service provider in the UK, BT responded that "the majority" of complaints <b>were from Dee Safortunado</b> (pictured below). With Dee, if anything can go wrong, it does.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUb6TIfA76AO7m3g1Tj4y_-Ir5fe7AolgeEbCQLOQLoyBuPTMMmpMV9nlm3p2watBxrBeFkBhKGtFEO32SadOfUhStkqlQgtLLcJyKGT1f5tEkIMwIBzlZI6sncU0U-nD8fJLS1nx6RM/s640/bbc_20021212.jpg" width="611" /></div><br />
In <b>June 2003</b> the BBC announced that Dee had unwittingly become entangled in the infamous '<b>War of the IM networks</b>', and Dee was quoted as saying "It's enough to drive you crazy" which any sane person can fully understand.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMTrTWsHsmmKHMssyz1oshHrIPOvEJyBrqV93t9a-_Js2yOMNoGSPdNywIltwJo2uGLmjuDlcSraMVAplutbe_ruPm7vRPwZubj4cbEmvL6D7pJ2B-zfnkbF9SX-l6YfpZ9l_HmkkULA/s640/bbc_20030630.jpg" width="588" /></div><br />
In <b>September 2003</b> the BBC reported on the MSBlast worm, and how it had "hit some users hard".<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1uuSWPeuVmV8nSPxeZ5f0Y7NOCwoON4DWqTF6ZVsyLDj8Q65cX63awT6hmej1NWqWX2IRPjM_3OBiL1mKes6ZPrL08G4vBu35fOYQhEPE_RICZ0wHwfsKe093kWrGAsM4gz-205blP2I/s640/bbc_20030918.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
Dee Safortunado was quoted as saying that the <b>vicious worm</b> had in fact hit her so hard that it had <b>knocked the wind out of her</b> and left her with <b>two broken ribs</b>.<br />
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At the time there were some public questions over the fact that in photos Dee Safortunado always seemed to be in <b>exactly the same 'stance'</b>. A BBC spokesman responded that this was in truth the result of a <b>freak workplace incident</b> in which Dee had <b>accidently superglued her hands to her head</b>. "She isn't called the <i>World's Unluckiest Woman</i> for nothing." he added.<br />
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In <b>June 2005,</b> during the European Union's ultimately doomed attempt to <b>'metrify' time</b>, Unions complained that "long hours increase stress" and the BBC quoted Dee as saying that being constantly photographed infront of her computer increased her stress almost as much as long hours did. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img border="0" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAuqm3qZMTsgX0XcB90PLbwpiqJ-6R-udosS4u73fbDpNqZYYqDRLeX_47D5Letd73yUE22vfYeXahFAcb16KD_recIO8U9tcdEKfA6INOcNZmChQLbOONUqyXqVFoodwzF6RefoinNY/s640/bbc_20050603.jpg" width="669" /></div><br />
Dee went on to become a high profile member of the campaign to reject the 100 minute hour and return to the now widely accepted standard of 60 minutes.<br />
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Some years later, for their acclaimed <b>December 2009</b> <b>"Ten years after doomsday</b>" report, the BBC revisted Dee's well-documented problems recovering from the Y2K Bug. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaH9v57NqFq8QAq764Cd79rkvGuPTq_0uvcTXCmTZfToszJrAXrzfTvDHvrtqsmR6nvXzUXdS-dnFMaT9irUt7d_1uXQsncs62y0N2rkEGRj1ZwHzITi282kNeJYx4NbuIVAF93FM6gs/s640/bbc_20091208.jpg" width="664" /></div><br />
Dee told the BBC that while it was true that "Computer problems caused by the Bug were few and far between", at the time it had badly effected her health and had required a long and painful convalescence. However, in a fascinating twist, doctors have discovered that Dee <b>does not age</b>. "We have been studying Dee for more than a decade," her personal physician stated "and in that time she has not aged a single day. She looks just the same."<br />
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Earlier this month Dee returned to the headlines with the recent launch of Microsoft's 'fix it' program. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6x4PI5_NHEb_Nqqgb3fuLBWveVi6SXisCxcwjQzSY2qkrtfGL1xG1EZyx5aqjN2YUwcy8-ANB0IIaqYKaTojLP7oIaOUToSNm5jvNC5D04TY8n6uooeu-eXSzVNBA8Mx7gKtsW1io6UQ/s640/bbc_20100419.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
Knowing of her many well-documented computer related problems, Microsoft found a perfect <b>Guinea pig</b> in Dee and consulted her regularly during the entire development process. Dee said that "Many PC problems can be very frustrating to find and fix" but that between her and Microsoft this was likely to become a thing of the past. However when Dee added that <b>"Windows 7 Was My Idea"</b>, sales of the new software reportedly plummeted and she was forced to make a hasty retraction.<br />
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The BBC has said that they will continue to follow Dee's trials and tribulations and are currently working on a <b>major feature</b> about her career and future plans once she retires from her role as a government Health and Safety consultant next year. <br />
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"One of the advantages of the fact that Dee does not age" a BBC spokesman said "is that we probably don't need a new photo of her for the feature. We actually have a team working on it as I speak... as we believe we may have an old picture on file somewhere which we could use."Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-10581136420045780872010-04-12T17:28:00.000-07:002011-01-25T18:49:11.832-08:00train crash photos, Northern Italy, April 12Following the train crash earlier today in Northern Italy near to the town of Merano, close to the Austrian border, one of our <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/italy-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers in Italy</font></a> <b><a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/details.asp?portfolio=22579">Alex Rowbotham</a></b> who lives nearby, has asked me to publicise his images of both the inauguration of the line in 2005 and the landslide, crash scene and rescue operation currently in progress.<br />
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Alex's images of <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?lb=12180">the train crash in Northern Italy, April 12</a> can be accessed <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?lb=12180">here</a> and Alex can be contacted directly by press agencies and the media <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/email.asp?portfolio=22579">by email</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?lb=12180"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePCKg6lYvf2ThYXcgTG_r9PE3phWn9tMFrlt7BkyJ8DqIVrx5ZSDexiokxXlhdjMlR4ugHRi_YSwBhuSlalunPLxzenO7_a8RuyvQUzhEUk3rYz_k-hmgMRPhtOByMNV93MPvNZjd2fY/s400/train_crash_northern_italy_alex_rowbotham.jpg" alt="Train crash Northern Italy - image copyright Alex Rowbotham"/><br />
</a></div><br />
Rescue workers . Train hit by landslide in northern Italy 12th April 2010 0905<br />
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Alex's report from the scene:<br />
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"<i>Just after nine o'clock I heard the air-raid sirens that every village has at their fire stations.<br />
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They sounded three times to signify there had been a major accident, usually a major road accident, a forest fire or house fire. They test these sirens each Saturday at midday so to hear them at any other time gives me the shivers.<br />
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Now I'm down at the crash site, I can see the train cab is not there at all and the train is hanging off the rails about five metres from the river. It is now only a few trees that are holding up the train and preventing it falling into the river.<br />
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The landslide looks like it happened on a bend. There would have been no way the driver could have seen it.<br />
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The train is on the wrong side of the river to get equipment to the site by the main road, so the cycle path along the river has been opened up to vehicles. Workers there are trying to build a pontoon across the river in order to get equipment over.<br />
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The main road was closed but is now open, although traffic is extremely heavy. There are a lot of fire fighters and ambulances coming and going but it looks like they have managed to get everyone out.<br />
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The emergency services have to be praised. Many of them are volunteers from the local communities and they are doing an incredible job with precision and total control.<br />
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The width of the landslide is about the length of a train carriage and it looks like it happened just after a bend. There would have been no way the driver could have seen it.</i>"<br />
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<a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/italy-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Northern Italy-based photographer</font></a> Alex Rowbotham's report from the scene of the train crash, Northern Italy, April 12th<br />
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UPDATE: Alex has added a set of new images of the rescue operation taken on site today, 13th April.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-91937560265200386902010-04-05T18:24:00.000-07:002011-01-25T18:47:37.064-08:00Microstock: how to avoid Poisonous PicturesThere has been quite a big reaction to my previous article about <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/03/microstock-why-would-reputable-company.html">the perils of companies using microstock images</a>, with comments ranging from '<i>hilarious</i>', '<i>there ought to be a health warning attached to all micro stock purchases</i>' and '<i>I might just frame that and put it in my office</i>' to... '<i>biased hypocritical nonsense</i>'. I guess you can't please everyone.<br />
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Many designers and researchers have also said that providing their clients with a link to the article is a simple and effective way to show them that with photo purchases, it's not just down to price. Buying cheap can end up an expensive mistake.<br />
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What I did not explain in the article (and I have had numerous queries about since) is how I found all these examples of the same image being used across multiple sites. With recent technological advances, it has become quick and easy, which is why companies are going to have to really think about the consequences of using microstock images to represent their brand and reputation.<br />
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The key is a website called <b>tineye.com</b> which describes itself as a 'Reverse Image Search', and I think it is a tool that every designer and picture researcher needs to make an integral part of their work. I will now set out a 'how to' on using TinEye in your <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/submit.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">picture research</font></a>:<br />
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Go to the TinEye website, and download their <a href="http://www.tineye.com/plugin"><b>TinEye plugin</b></a> for your browser. It's free!<br />
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Once it is installed, whenever you see an image on the web, you just need to right click on it. For example, say you want to buy a <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/stockimages/h/headset.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">'headset' stock image</font></a> for a website you are designing. You find a nice anonymous image you could use:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzPvuFpro5TEf0ceZCYDm6FNGvT-H7kXVT1ZPli7ri0jmtz4hDsPRlOMkVruYU8nRa1sO5ic8SxcN-jLQdto-Zj-wMkTURyxg8Z03zS2G5Oeo7iYjQUbFY54IPrtRn0778P8JHY1SIUPQ/s640/microstock_headset_tineye1.jpg" width="561" /></div><br />
Just right click with your mouse, and on the dropdown menu you will see a new option: <b>Search Image on TinEye</b>. Click on that option and a new window will open in your browser, showing all the matches which TinEye has in its database:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqu-c9kRPC39XpdJ-qGW-_Xt83aRjVesOMa4QRvSpEBFVCGqTtxF9GZifXoITBYk_0C5DZ0TGEqonjO4vAI1VDvmXNxlPVovSO23e9Pk6Buzjjji30G3BMsRPJ5FOQkMe_7yV6r_uNFk/s640/microstock_headset_tineye_results.jpg" width="483" /></div><br />
<b>28 results</b> in this case. Now, the first thing you need to ask yourself is "<i>is it going to be a problem using this image if so many other sites are using it?</i>" Traditionally the general consensus has been that in many cases this is not a problem, as the odds of someone stumbling across the same image and then highlighting the fact are probably minimal. <br />
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But... now we have TinEye. <br />
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That means that if you use the image on your website, anyone viewing the image on your site can do exactly what you just did with TinEye. It now takes just one click to find matching images across the web. Okay, so still in many cases, if your client isn't particularly high profile, no big deal. And in this case it is a fairly anonymous <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock image</font></a>. <br />
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But what about this?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="523" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQWdY-uhe7XgjYy9DITEdafsn2eSDoG4N0krHc-AoURBgqTOfO3QrKgpDQcE-vMMy_LFgEm9w9g-r5TeIK3HlEFuWsBj5qAtv0gjfUtOyBEo86WMRo24epdOcPzvylovrCQ8UshRmRtY/s640/microstock_headset_tineye_naturepene.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
I have to confess that my <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/spain-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Spanish</font></a> is a little rusty, but words like 'erecciones' and 'eyaculaciones' suggest to me that this is not the sort of 'enhancement' product that you want your help-centre call girls associated with.<br />
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Maybe it's time to look for another headset photo.<br />
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What you need to find is an image that is not over-used and is not tainted by the 'Poisonous Picture' phenomenon we see above. The Caveat of course is that, while TinEye allows you to find these uses:<br />
<br />
1) It is by no means comprehensive. TinEye's database of images is constantly increasing as their spiders crawl the web, so you never know when some 'interesting' new use for an image may turn up.<br />
<br />
2) It only shows current uses. Someone may come along next week, buy the same image as you, and use it to promote their business or product.<br />
<br />
There is no way you can completely protect yourself unless you 'buyout' rights to the image. In most cases this is going to be too expensive, so what it really comes down to is <b>risk assessment</b>:<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding=3 bgcolor="#eeeeee"><tr> <td><b>1)</b> <b><font color="red">HIGH RISK</font></b><br />
You use <b><font color="red">microstock images</font></b> to represent your company: there are going to be possibly hundreds if not thousands of websites/businesses out ther using the same 2 dollar images. Also, because they are 2 dollar images, the dodgiest, seediest, fly-by-night businesses will be using them, because why would they pay more?<br />
<br />
<b>2)</b> <b><font color="orange">LOWER RISK</font></b><br />
You use non-microstock <b><font color="orange">Royalty Free images</font></b>. There may well be quite a few other websites/businesses using those images, but nothing like the same scale as the microstock ones, and the dodgiest, seediest, fly-by-night businesses will not be using them because... they like cheap! (Of course because they are Royalty Free you can't be sure that the same photos are not also being sold as <b><font color="red">microstock</font></b>, but that is a whole other can of worms...)<br />
<br />
<b>3)</b> <b><font color="blue">VERY LOW RISK</font></b><br />
You use <b><a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="blue">Rights Managed images</font></a></b>. Not many, if any, other businesses will be using them. As they are Rights Managed, you should also be able to find out if, and where else, they have been used and whether there is a possible conflict of use with a competitor, particularly if you license them direct from the photographer.<br />
<br />
<b>4)</b> <b><font color="green">NO RISK</font></b><br />
You <b><a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="green">hire a photographer</font></a></b> to shoot for you. This is likely to be the most expensive option if you just need one or two photos, but if you need a reasonable number (for instance a variety of shots of your staff at work, your premises and your products) it could actually end up being more economical than buying stock.</td> </tr>
</table><br />
Interestingly, I have noticed a growing number of 'high-end' businesses taking this last option, and starting to avoid stock completely, and I can see good reasons for doing so. But a discussion of that will have to wait until another time.<br />
<br />
In many cases it may not be a big deal that the girl in that beautiful layout your designer created to promote your business...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0s944SyRg2jHkYxIzUab8ThgEe4KKutOJl69l5t8QIRKmb_ZmWlhJ-zl4AtMTh2gt4mGcaTWK5-UhpZPs6zANIUZAlcxDA6xzI7AXsGVzfN_iT5ae0zkNLbE2s8rPwbo4QN_xs1A4o50/s400/microstock_hollytrees.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
...hangs out in some bizarro parallel universe of bad design,<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDB7nOfQwsR2Z-_RZvV0oAD_Sj1-oCUc2MRJK8YqzA2Pg1VVwxaaCPPiwuxEqFpLhT_ERDf84S2YjFhTKlLl-knlUL-SHcvwnZhO5B_Na0inPOGOBgbJnuB39mvo59JOveSe500xnbok/s400/microstock_dwyco.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
but when it comes to a company as high profile and prestigious as <b>Hilton Hotels ®</b>...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-FR4Kys0gbpN0XUgdzmA9tg3dbdQqyKqzFePn2vPiG1Dip6RklGrTonnA2U8MQINHV_94RoB9NcYj7fVGTu-cJHcYTVcXbFLlaAxewr7RSZ_ysJpl6ay2DkcorBsU4LaP4to_L2feOY/s400/microstock_hilton.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
... do they really want it to look like they use the same call centre staff as <b>Viagra Genius dot com</b>?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="4" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi559Z00oPgpV6tnmI2pVgjlTYkrbICQTuxupWks9e0Bo5dE87IrsaNFnyLU-xVsFPMYaEc9gM_p_jrf_PJy9Vr7Fz8v0PYgHikbpuBMcTuUmdIPw4m8VW1RCbUdHCoTp1Wg9hq8at6hZ0/s640/microstock_viagragenius.jpg" width="640" /></div><br />
<i>"Hi, this is Shelley at Viagra Geen... I beg your pardon, I mean at Hilton Worldwide, how may I help you today?"</i><br />
<br />
<b>Microstock photos may be cheap, but they come at a price.</b>Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-49788650059823289462010-03-05T19:01:00.000-08:002011-01-25T18:51:27.967-08:00Microstock: why would a reputable company do this to themselves?I was looking at a company website today, with the possibility of putting some business their way, when something I saw there made me cringe involuntarily.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoXRFXf_ArYPr-PB6a03nsfXL2zWuunsslfPiIg4XIM-0WxiTd4HjL-az5na6LKZMmKO4bOWXESDlvztfIPgLUZsWIcGl6WDs2uEsuWxkp-aznhEGvn6yJl0j5BfP9g745ciJ1ZwpDTo/s1600-h/bestoftheweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoXRFXf_ArYPr-PB6a03nsfXL2zWuunsslfPiIg4XIM-0WxiTd4HjL-az5na6LKZMmKO4bOWXESDlvztfIPgLUZsWIcGl6WDs2uEsuWxkp-aznhEGvn6yJl0j5BfP9g745ciJ1ZwpDTo/s320/bestoftheweb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this one has a lot to say. It says microstock. It says perfect-people perfect-world lowest-common-denominator cookie-cutter pile-them-high sell-them-cheap image.<br />
<br />
Why would a reputable company want to be associated with those words? <br />
<br />
The problem with this image is that it has that.... 'Deja Vu' feeling to it, and for a good reason.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-D2j5p6KmX17-PQm9pOseGtJjODN0mThQ2hg9JdSiHsbxZg6ZopdW_tUr7qjWxIJyG-JESPleEPekCRYvySqZidxDqxmuee6eE9gxMKCos91EhUmNmYjBsOg4MpgHrDAbBLNyyFtAk-k/s1600-h/123greetings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-D2j5p6KmX17-PQm9pOseGtJjODN0mThQ2hg9JdSiHsbxZg6ZopdW_tUr7qjWxIJyG-JESPleEPekCRYvySqZidxDqxmuee6eE9gxMKCos91EhUmNmYjBsOg4MpgHrDAbBLNyyFtAk-k/s640/123greetings.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
So, do these guys come as a package? Have they moved on from "Best of the Web" to form the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/corporate-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">Corporate Team</font></a> at "123 Greetings"?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOLKdSy-fqJupUOLkt534Vd09LDpdl8cwGaLZRBel6a4rmrltwMNQ8UpqsZBUQHhHtP5ojn38UnwPiyHReVcZAcmf3KnFbSFj-dA12IstjW3uwBfg3OdgeICSiNFapXjRmEhDtPJl6WWE/s1600-h/aixonix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOLKdSy-fqJupUOLkt534Vd09LDpdl8cwGaLZRBel6a4rmrltwMNQ8UpqsZBUQHhHtP5ojn38UnwPiyHReVcZAcmf3KnFbSFj-dA12IstjW3uwBfg3OdgeICSiNFapXjRmEhDtPJl6WWE/s640/aixonix.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
As you would expect from such a high powered team, they speak fluent <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/germany-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">German</font></a>...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-ysLCOH3e-zBQzID8b3f44EB-jzMbUEfVpOkBzEbXIHneJU6-O5loQGjmjMqUQYp97bqYH3-TnAi34qXccDdVCbCTNbI6Cd7NmgU4gXI_yJRAkGX5UW1MIr2X6iakk-BUiQBGm2oBdM/s1600-h/fetel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-ysLCOH3e-zBQzID8b3f44EB-jzMbUEfVpOkBzEbXIHneJU6-O5loQGjmjMqUQYp97bqYH3-TnAi34qXccDdVCbCTNbI6Cd7NmgU4gXI_yJRAkGX5UW1MIr2X6iakk-BUiQBGm2oBdM/s320/fetel.jpg" /></a></div><br />
... and some East Asian language - you could probably find out which one if you bump into them at the:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVnYKuYf2xTxR5W8DMhjs34w9v0atrhG06HYSmwE4O-X56La1QnjVclQyWnIgQ6PBwxdSuz33C9los9OmI5BKGPsx1wiTT8TJNDLNcup83UFOWm-rBo1W0I1QkoWiTgOvUmDqsfSfzlU/s1600-h/businessgoldclub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVnYKuYf2xTxR5W8DMhjs34w9v0atrhG06HYSmwE4O-X56La1QnjVclQyWnIgQ6PBwxdSuz33C9los9OmI5BKGPsx1wiTT8TJNDLNcup83UFOWm-rBo1W0I1QkoWiTgOvUmDqsfSfzlU/s640/businessgoldclub.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">and of course they come with a: </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPefYIN8ksoijaSnXC7MWGByzmbEUzYVSXP-78pgljnes5Z2UB17kisUPxWI-5NBHljmnli8hP-zPg9MDFboK_Q1xpHvqKmHx7Y-wIvzlzW6j8vp-NUOJ2-SWUqV8t-gzp-hlJcl1w3pE/s1600-h/banner-satisfaction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPefYIN8ksoijaSnXC7MWGByzmbEUzYVSXP-78pgljnes5Z2UB17kisUPxWI-5NBHljmnli8hP-zPg9MDFboK_Q1xpHvqKmHx7Y-wIvzlzW6j8vp-NUOJ2-SWUqV8t-gzp-hlJcl1w3pE/s200/banner-satisfaction.jpg" width="200" /></a> </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Now, this may all just seem a bit of a joke, just poking fun at the short-sightedness of companies using cheap microstock images to represent their... well, image, but:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0fhkSBvbiq85ZpBENBkGfS4zfrUcPCq_kM_ed2V1d_TVo0q2XyeeEkS8PljzmaGA8dh8NLn_5Bi91dYXM-XL7usVfqxeUwpOCwVsdlfiEhyj5UC_CUT1ycOZzAkbG3ANsdPXKDLw81g/s1600-h/businessimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0fhkSBvbiq85ZpBENBkGfS4zfrUcPCq_kM_ed2V1d_TVo0q2XyeeEkS8PljzmaGA8dh8NLn_5Bi91dYXM-XL7usVfqxeUwpOCwVsdlfiEhyj5UC_CUT1ycOZzAkbG3ANsdPXKDLw81g/s640/businessimage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<i>About us? They didn't do a very good job of spotting this trouble on the horizon...</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6iQYpsaE29JPd86opcUyLqthmrJaXajaRqzpv7ZnU1dc28CRKdoFp7FXOsMgSLRRqkoabMiybXJkpE4soY3wvb6PlNf1zZK1qAB-TPz_bELieGKQ3n_M32skUUlW1IIp5lz2aC8oD88/s1600-h/financeme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6iQYpsaE29JPd86opcUyLqthmrJaXajaRqzpv7ZnU1dc28CRKdoFp7FXOsMgSLRRqkoabMiybXJkpE4soY3wvb6PlNf1zZK1qAB-TPz_bELieGKQ3n_M32skUUlW1IIp5lz2aC8oD88/s640/financeme.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<i>maybe financeme needs better financing if they don't have any <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/headshots-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">headshots</font></a> of their own staff and can only afford microstock images...</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc683Al4v194jCwsMr_kEpnI1-R_rpNfbI2WqXbwcbSP0QqE8n5qDY2J7yl9VNO1jJOl7ziv0Z3sLmfylJ8k3BEbJTlSG3dqCCL5nRtdVdOneFfa4NEWL7I4l0MoWAh-ocNoWBbiSYZg/s1600-h/webcom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc683Al4v194jCwsMr_kEpnI1-R_rpNfbI2WqXbwcbSP0QqE8n5qDY2J7yl9VNO1jJOl7ziv0Z3sLmfylJ8k3BEbJTlSG3dqCCL5nRtdVdOneFfa4NEWL7I4l0MoWAh-ocNoWBbiSYZg/s640/webcom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<i>I think that should read 'Company Oversight'</i><br />
<br />
...when it gets visibly misleading, you end up questioning the credibility of the company itself.<br />
<br />
I don't believe these people really work at Targetti Poulsen...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaArEr1vHrqBW7NV9GHzLXrU2M62lVgeRZQU93Z9pmb7J2qOti2tZ5IKkDPkpaEke_gdVCx_JnN-EzkzbUKEoEmElygZlLDHlPlFWPWuCzvqDfZqfNB_XypJWaIDTRm6Qyfe6HTl6AFU/s1600-h/targetti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaArEr1vHrqBW7NV9GHzLXrU2M62lVgeRZQU93Z9pmb7J2qOti2tZ5IKkDPkpaEke_gdVCx_JnN-EzkzbUKEoEmElygZlLDHlPlFWPWuCzvqDfZqfNB_XypJWaIDTRm6Qyfe6HTl6AFU/s400/targetti.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><br />
...so why would I trust anything else that Targetti Poulsen have to say?<br />
<br />
And if I am wrong and they do work there, are Targetti Poulsen aware that their 'people' moonlight at:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJSnfGua3BsYGBYsVb7gV7-9EW6tYOavkbghokoy76vuOzlTUmRl2qnoZiHCttVkCXkZXtztgzPlZhC-bH7_4We-H-GAy4z3tiz0xR2MOaDzKJrhIP9fOOW1X9pZ2-QL6LitrPUoPSzo/s1600-h/badcredit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJSnfGua3BsYGBYsVb7gV7-9EW6tYOavkbghokoy76vuOzlTUmRl2qnoZiHCttVkCXkZXtztgzPlZhC-bH7_4We-H-GAy4z3tiz0xR2MOaDzKJrhIP9fOOW1X9pZ2-QL6LitrPUoPSzo/s640/badcredit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<i>On a side note, 'Bad Credit Cosmetic Surgery Loans dot co dot uk' wins this month's prize for "dodgiest domain name".</i><br />
<br />
My final example I think rounds off this topic in an appropriate way:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojt1gg1CEpR_qPmWPg6FbBi4-swyCdFUHW-HX2kr0IIGFe2GoeU_cZoHGKNsM30zkCtaVYGdir5F_9ebGlBNAEXUpM_Aa0E9eJD2z4-gxrzZ5qOTmRKQLZXsGZ9jyNtLDCfg7TQiXeHo/s1600-h/hireview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojt1gg1CEpR_qPmWPg6FbBi4-swyCdFUHW-HX2kr0IIGFe2GoeU_cZoHGKNsM30zkCtaVYGdir5F_9ebGlBNAEXUpM_Aa0E9eJD2z4-gxrzZ5qOTmRKQLZXsGZ9jyNtLDCfg7TQiXeHo/s640/hireview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>from their track record, getting these 'good people' to stay does not look promising...</i><br />
<br />
Okay, so HireView Magazine used the same silly microstock image. But that photo at the top? That's them. That's the team at HireView. I am confident about that because it isn't a perfect-people perfect-world lowest-common-denominator cookie-cutter pile-them-high sell-them-cheap image that has spread across the internet like a nasty virus. It is an honest picture, and because of that, I think I can trust HireView Magazine.<br />
<br />
Which is more than I can say for the rest of these companies.<br />
<br />
Companies need to think more carefully about the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock images</font></a> they use. I suspect many businesses are unaware that the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photos</font></a> their designer has sold them are spread a-dime-a-dozen across the web. There is a good reason that microstock's original catchphrase was "the designer's dirty little secret".<br />
<br />
At the very least, reputable companies should look at using rights-managed rather than royalty-free images, so they will KNOW if the image is being used elsewhere and whether a competitor (or sometimes something even worse: "<i>Cosmetic Surgery for mens, Get your Dream Shape like stars"</i>) is using the same 'team' to represent their company. Or maybe they should follow HireView Magazine's lead and actually <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">hire a photographer</font></a> to take real <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portrait-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">portraits</font></a> of real people who work at their company. They may not be perfect, they may cost a bit more, but they will look genuine, and honest. And not just... cheap.<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE: April 5th</b><br />
To address questions regarding how all these image uses were easily found across the web, and how companies can prevent this problem with picture use on their own websites, I have written a follow-up piece about <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/04/microstock-how-to-avoid-poisonous.html"><b>avoiding poisonous pictures</b></a>.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com150tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-38078109412715048042010-03-02T14:14:00.000-08:002011-01-28T08:45:38.652-08:00PurestockX: Unfair Trade for photographers?One of our photographers forwarded me an email he received this week from a <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photography</font></a> agency called <b>PurestockX</b>:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Dear Alan,<br />
<br />
I have been studying your photography on-line and decided to get in contact with you. My name is Johnnie and I work as a picture editor for Ingram Publishing, a leading European royalty free image provider based in London. We are currently looking for talented professional photographers to contribute work to our subscription website PurestockX, for single image distribution and possibly a DVD collection.<br />
<br />
Like many professional photographers, you may have a back catalogue of unused and potentially profitable images. For example this could be personal work or offshoots from your commercial practice. We would be interested in distributing these images on your behalf in exchange for a commission.<br />
<br />
As a contributor you would benefit from direct marketing in nine European countries. Typically our marketing includes mailing printed brochures as well as telesales campaigns to promote DVD products and our subscription service, PurestockX, throughout the year. The revenues our contributors receive can be substantial.<br />
<br />
Ingram Publishing has hundreds of thousands of images available for direct sale within the UK and an international client base; comprising direct customers and a network of third party distributors. The mission of Ingram Publishing is to provide high quality, fully released imagery at competitive prices – without underselling the value of photographic work.<br />
<br />
Please feel free to give me a phone call or e-mail to discuss this in further detail. Meanwhile please visit www.ingrampublishing.com and www.purestockx.com for a better understanding of our company.<br />
<br />
I look forward to hearing back from you.<br />
With best regards,<br />
Johnnie</b></i><br />
<br />
Of course, it is quite flattering to find an agency has been "studying your photography on-line" and considers you a "talented professional photographer", but I suspect this is a standard 'fluffer' email they send to anyone, with just a personal name stuck at the top (on a side note it would be great to hear from photographers who may have received the same email!)<br />
<br />
Alan forwarded the email to me asking for "information/awareness/comments", but having never heard about Purestock, I asked him if he could find out anything more from them about the commission splits they offer <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">talented professional photographers</font></a>.<br />
<br />
Alan sent Johnnie at PurestockX an email with a list of detailed questions.<br />
<br />
No response.<br />
<br />
So, Alan took the initiative and phoned Johnnie, which is always a smart move as you can tell a lot from someone's 'on-the-spot' answers to difficult questions. Alan reported back:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Johnnie claims they sell hi res images for £150 down to £100<br />
<br />
Photographer gets 20%.<br />
<br />
When I asked how much after going via a distributor, was it 20% of the total or what they got?<br />
<br />
He mumbled a bit and then said '20% of what we get'.</b></i><br />
<br />
So.... if Purestock sell one of your <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock images</font></a> direct to a buyer, <b>you get paid 20%</b>. If they sell your images thought their "network of third party distributors" you get... what? I am guessing <b>10%</b> at best.<br />
<br />
And who exactly are this "network of third party distributors"? Doing some research online, I find that <b>PurestockX is "a division of SuperStock Inc."</b>. What I would really like to know is, if images you submit to Purestock are sold through SuperStock (which seems to own PurestockX) what percentage of the original sale price do you receive?<br />
<br />
What also does not add up, as Alan pointed out, is that PurestockX is a subscription site, advertising "10 high res credits for 45 pounds". That is 4 pounds and fifty pence per high res image.<br />
<br />
Having got this info, Alan said:<br />
<br />
"<i><b>I left it at that as it is plain to see what it is, as his claim for £150 does not match 10 hi res image credits for £45.</b></i>"<br />
<br />
"<i><b>The photographer gets about 40p - 80p per image according to my sums - if they are lucky!</b></i>"<br />
<br />
This is another example of the contempt with which some agencies treat <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a>. Offering just 20% of earnings for direct sales, let alone the even lower sub-agency rates, cannot be justified in any way.<br />
<br />
PurestockX seems to be another 'front agency' for the shady 'death by a thousand cuts' network of distributors out there designed to part photographers from as much as possible of the earnings from their creative work.<br />
<br />
For these reasons, Fair Trade Photographer has this verdict:<br />
<br />
<h1>PurestockX = UnFair Trade.</h1>Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-39582466856422821812010-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:002011-01-25T09:45:29.798-08:00Our photographers in Chile after the earthquakeJust wanted to write a quick note about our <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/chile-photographers.asp">photographers in Chile</a> after hearing the news about the massive earthquake there last night. Chile is used to earthquakes and is well prepared, but the huge size of this earthquake is rare, and we hope all is well with our photographers there, particularly <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/details.asp?portfolio=12209">Ricardo Carrasco Stuparich</a>, who lives very close to the epicentre in Concepción. I emailed him last night when I first heard of the earthquake but have not had a reply yet.<br />
<br />
I have vistied Chile three times, and it is one of my favorite countries. I hope to take my family down there to experience its extraordinary beauty sometime in the future. Wishing you all the best! Hasta Luego!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YNP5oAdKrutNVA0wUM8fukxzFS9tNEhU7eDVj7SA8c09U9ZYTwetVr6K-o1uV5QmZWOxgUJfyxqaeLUKSFQcE3PaIV9OMQ5t_0i05Tx2MttyUPX2vNxD1YG9BblVZScdMiKDhEoFvW8/s1600-h/chi305_beach+near_concepcion_chile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YNP5oAdKrutNVA0wUM8fukxzFS9tNEhU7eDVj7SA8c09U9ZYTwetVr6K-o1uV5QmZWOxgUJfyxqaeLUKSFQcE3PaIV9OMQ5t_0i05Tx2MttyUPX2vNxD1YG9BblVZScdMiKDhEoFvW8/s400/chi305_beach+near_concepcion_chile.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
A beach near Concepcion, Chile 2001</div><br />
<br />
UPDATE: I have just heard from Ricardo, and he and his family are all fine, but he says the situation looks bad in other areas.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-19186334298069758572010-02-26T09:00:00.000-08:002011-01-25T18:52:44.074-08:00BEWARE! Living Science Competition IMAGE RIGHTS GRAB!Yesterday a new Image Rights Grab competition was launched by the UK Department for Innovation, Business and Skills. Reading the small print in the terms and conditions for photo submissions to their <b>Living Science Competition</b> on the 'Science, so What?' website, we find that:<br />
<br />
<i><b>By entering, all entrants licence News International, the Department for Innovation, Business and Skills, and their authorised representatives, a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to publish and use each entry (including all images and text submitted by the entrant as part of the entry process) in any and all media (including, without limitation, print and online) in perpetuity.</b></i><br />
<br />
This means that <b>News International</b> (The Times, The Sun, The Sunday Times, The News Of The World), the <b>Department for Innovation, Business and Skills</b>, and 'their authorised representatives' (ie <b>anyone else they choose</b>), can use your images for anything, for all time, <b>without any payment to the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographer</font></a></b>.<br />
<br />
Following the <b>huge success</b> of our campaign to persuade <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-british-life-beware-image-rights.html">Great British Life</a> and Archant Publishing to change the terms and conditions of their website and competitions, we now ask our loyal supporters to help us in publicising this new underhand Rights Grab on <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?search=wow!" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers' images</font></a>.<br />
<br />
<b>WHAT <u>YOU</u> CAN DO</b><br />
If you have your own website, blog, newsgroup, whatever, please copy and paste this link into your site:<br />
<br />
<form><textarea cols="60"><a http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/beware-living-science-competition-image.html">Living Science Competition</a></textarea></form><br />
What will happen is that anyone searching for info about the Living Science Competition is likely to see a link to this blog and be warned about the Image Rights Grab attempt. <br />
<br />
Does this have any effect? Our previous campaign rose as high as the number 3 search result on <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=great+british+life">Google</a> for the search term 'Great British Life' and as a direct result <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-british-life-beware-image-rights.html">Great British Life and Archant Publishing</a> liaised with Fair Trade Photographer in rewriting their terms and conditions to make them fair to photographers.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-41747595124340126112010-02-09T15:31:00.000-08:002011-01-28T09:05:37.324-08:00Great British Life do the right thing!Screenshot from the Great British Life website:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizF94kj0C6KchGyZciWbNCJ5lYDYzgltDWrpkDT9AzIpqhoGRupkw42dyY3XzFBU80aDgv_wH1lfqGM6XfWX8m1oLXg6yB1jCSAo5iaGn8cEWGSWKxNirzgaw4XI6KRVnlkI41Ag-_bLA/s1600-h/gbl_revisedtermsandcondtions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizF94kj0C6KchGyZciWbNCJ5lYDYzgltDWrpkDT9AzIpqhoGRupkw42dyY3XzFBU80aDgv_wH1lfqGM6XfWX8m1oLXg6yB1jCSAo5iaGn8cEWGSWKxNirzgaw4XI6KRVnlkI41Ag-_bLA/s640/gbl_revisedtermsandcondtions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b>IMPORTANT:</b> This blog page is an update of Fair Trade Photographer's campaign to publicise the formerly unreasonable terms and conditions for <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/united_kingdom-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a> on Archant's Great British Life website. To view the original blog post there is <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnGSdJBbTSY3yaX7C9cfGybTMTIpToRW6jdJ76Z0k9aWddXW-Jm7UGBihm8ikWFpJC9dAOW85UDnXf6TTGp0n_rgTLHzIoN-KHbmlwbNKQ-DgQeuopuEbtZ5oT_2m-WbrlmW9uTw9N-A/s1600-h/blogcampaignscreenshot.jpg">a screenshot here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE: 25 February 2010</b><br />
As a result of the support of numerous photographers for this campaign, along with support from <b>The British Institute of Professional Photography</b>, <b>Copyright Action</b> and <b>Pro Imaging</b>'s Bill of Rights, Archant Publishing and the Great British Life team have revised their terms and conditions to take account of our concerns.<br />
<br />
Whereas the previous terms gave Archant a royalty-free license to use any <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">images</font></a> uploaded to their website for anything they wished, without payment, the new terms state:<br />
<br />
<b><i>3. Use of Images<br />
<br />
By submitting a photograph You grant Great British Life worldwide license to reproduce, publicly display, distribute, publicly perform and create derivative works from Your submitted materials on the Great British Life websites.<br />
<br />
If submitted as a competition entry, in all media, in connection with the administration, judging and promotion of the competition and future competitions. We shall have the right to grant sublicenses to the press and publicity agents in connection with the promotion of the competition. Full credit will be given to You in connection with image usage. <br />
<br />
You will retain copyright and if we wish to use your photograph for any other purpose Archant will ask your permission and obtain your consent before doing so. Any commercial opportunities that arise following the publication of the submitted photograph will be notified to You, and You will be free to negotiate terms independently.</i></b><br />
<br />
Fair Trade Photographer considers these terms reasonable, and are grateful for the Great British Life team's co-operation in listening to our concerns about photographer's rights to their images, and the right to receive fair payment for the commercial use of their images. <br />
<br />
Archant said to us:<br />
<br />
<b><i>Archant are always happy to work with any groups or individuals, if they have concerns in relation to our websites or any of the terms and conditions.</i></b><br />
<br />
Archant's magazines provide many opportunities for <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/united_kingdom-photographers.asp">British photographers</a> to gain recognition and reasonable payment for their creative endeavours and we look forward to working with them in future in promoting the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/stockimages/b/britain.asp">Great British photos</a> of our many talented contributing photographers.<br />
<br />
The new terms and conditions can be viewed <a href="http://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/revised-terms-and-
conditions-great-british-life-18381/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">-----------------------------------------------------</div><br />
I now have to bring a new Rights Grab competition to your attention, this time courtesy of the UK government <b>Department for Innovation, Business and Skills</b> and <b>News International</b>. Please take a moment to read about their <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/beware-living-science-competition-image.html"><b>Living Science Competition</b></a> Image Rights Grab and find out how <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2010/02/beware-living-science-competition-image.html">you can help</a>.Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-20609153109821672172010-01-27T12:06:00.000-08:002011-01-25T18:53:30.052-08:00Does Getty Images have any respect for the photographers they represent?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJLWT9kOUFS84UXUicvGj5WvYDhJ6l0A4pA0aqBCffRbMXvY3LY00AHhEo_XiIKRJWeHlJC1YpBfmw9-tFkCKRhRR912MdJd031iZgCXDo-5WDCH_C3uDcPjT3uuB3a7ucuU8OG1fehg/s400/CRW_5605.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
all images copyright protected</div><br />
One of the developments at Getty Images which has caused a lot of buzz among photographers recently is their new "Flickr collection".<br />
<br />
Basically Getty has employees who trawl through the images on Flickr, cherry-pick ones they think have good potential as money-makers and then approach the photographer about representing the image.<br />
<br />
Great for photographers you may think? A chance to be noticed, to be represented by the biggest and best known photo agency in the world! Except for the small print:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Getty demands exclusivity. You can't sell your images elsewhere (except as personal prints I have heard). But that is normal isn't it? No, probably the majority of images on Getty Images are NOT exclusive.<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Oh, and Getty keeps 80% of the earnings.<br />
</li>
</ul>Isn't 50% the norm? It used to be... but then Getty Images' agenda is to squeeze bigger and bigger percentages from photographers. The longer you do it, and the more photographers you get to cave-in, the harder it is for other <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a> to fight it, and the more likely it is to be seen as the norm.<br />
<br />
What is particularly interesting about Getty Images' new Flickr collection is that they are promoting it with a HUGE advert on the FRONT PAGE of their website. Why would the do that? Surely they should be promoting the work of all those talented, hard-working, highly <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/portfolios.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">experienced professional photographers</font></a> who have been loyally supplying Getty with <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/search.asp?search=wow!" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">high quality stock images</font></a> for years? Surely Getty should show them some respect?<br />
<br />
But Getty only seems to care about the bottom line. With the Flickr images they get:<br />
<br />
1) exclusivity<br />
2) 80% of the earnings<br />
<br />
and therefore it makes sense to push buyers towards these images where Getty will take the biggest cut.<br />
<br />
And it gives them future leverage against their other 'loyal' photographers: <i>we pay Flickr photographers 20%, why would we pay you more?</i><br />
<br />
A dream for Getty, a nightmare for the photographer.<br />
<br />
Getty does not seem to have any respect for their photographers. They are just a commodity. To quote a previous comment on Fair Trade Photographer from that very talented photographer (and recently photographer to HM the Queen) <a href="http://www.rodedwards.com/" target="new">Rod Edwards</a>:<br />
<br />
<b>"It's no longer an honour to be represented by Getty, it's an embarrassment."</b>Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-87799761262918609252009-12-04T11:36:00.000-08:002011-01-25T18:53:48.176-08:00Places I have been...And now I have been had.<br />
<br />
It is funny where you can end up on your travels, and even funnier where your travels can end up....<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>MADAGASCAR</b><br />
</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>MEXICO</b><br />
</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>GUATEMALA</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>TEXAS</b><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>JORDAN</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">These are some of my <a href="http://www.chrisbartonphotos.co.uk" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">travel stock photos</font></a> on Getty Images<br />
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<a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2009/11/getty-images-youre-fired.html">so.... what's this all about?</a><br />
</div>Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9213446361239627293.post-29454020574651797062009-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:002013-01-07T08:30:32.087-08:00Getty Images, you're fired.<div align="center"><img alt="Cruise ship sets off from Vancouver at sunset heading up the Inside Passage to Alaska stock image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMoaHZQwCbDuno0DDtVEgJoUJGh87kVTWKga0Nf9j4cEKgHMsaOGYvCR5xwVVqXhKVz8NjBE6KXfY4Ah1Dc_M4VWFrPh8SqEs8WqsiIZlC6VM4n_8AQoAIaPVZZfDT7Lo_uPDvP7yS00/s1600/IMG15384.jpg" width="600" /><br />
all images copyright protected</div><br />
Recently I discovered that my images are being sold by <a href="http://fairtradephotographer.blogspot.com/2009/12/places-i-have-been.html">Getty Images</a>. Many photographers, particularly those new to the <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock photography</font></a> industry, would be thrilled by this news. I am not.<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago I received a royalty payment statement from an agency in the UK which <span style="font-style: italic;">used to</span> represent my images. Because they no longer represent my images, I queried the statement, and a rather murky trail was revealed. It seems that the UK agency had placed my images with an agency based in South Africa who had then placed them with Getty Images.<br />
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It can be very hard to get information from agencies about their royalty splits with sub-agents, but having done some research I think it goes something like this:<br />
<br />
1) Getty Images pays 20% to 30% of a pictures' earnings to many of their suppliers. Why so little? Because Getty Images dominates the market and many photo agencies and <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/canada-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">photographers</font></a>, in desperation, have agreed to these extraordinary terms. <br />
<br />
2) The <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/south_africa-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">South African agency</font></a> pays around 50% of their earnings to the UK agency. (I am guessing here using a market average)<br />
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3) The <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/professionals/united_kingdom-photographers.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">UK agency</font></a> then pays me (in breach of their contract with me, and the reason they no longer represent my images) 40% of the money they receive.<br />
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When I confronted the UK agency they told me "<i>the basis of your calculations is not quite correct</i>". <br />
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I have asked them to tell me what the correct figures are. Their response:<br />
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"<i>I am afraid that I am not going to be able to give you the detail of the existing contractual arrangements between third parties - it is a matter of confidentiality.</i>"<br />
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What I want to know now:<br />
1) Is this legal? Can they refuse to give me details about the percentage of a sale I earn from my copyrighted material, via two other parties?<br />
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2) Why would any photographer trust an agency which refuses to provide this information?<br />
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What really concerns me is, if the percentage split was better than my calculations, it would be in their interests to tell me so. Because they will not tell me, does this suggest it is <i>even worse</i>? .<br />
<br />
Either way, this means that when one of my images sells through Getty Images, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><nobr>I earn something around 6% of the license fee</nobr></span>.<br />
<br />
I find this so sickening that <span style="font-weight: bold;">I do not want my photos on Getty Images' website</span>. I understand that they are the biggest agency in the world. I understand that they have the best sales record. But if I am paid 6% of the earnings from my images, then I am merely being exploited. <br />
<br />
I have had a similar problem before with an agency placing my images with Alamy. I like Alamy's business model, and I like it that they pay photographers a higher than average percentage of their earnings, but if I want my images on Alamy, I can put them there myself. The sheer cheek of an agency putting my images on Alamy, and then taking 50% of the earnings, astounds me.<br />
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The whole sub-agency system is a holdover from the pre-internet days when it was difficult for photographers to market their photos in foreign markets. The internet has done away with that problem, and the fact that agencies perpetuate this shady "death by a thousand cuts" system of sub-agents needs to be exposed and addressed.<br />
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There needs to be transparency.<br />
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- photographers must be allowed to contractually opt-out of sub-agent agreements with their agencies.<br />
<br />
- agencies must clearly state the percentage splits in their <a href="http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphotos.asp" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#333333">stock image sales</font></a> so photographers know where the money from their image sales is going<br />
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- agencies need to recognise photographers as equal partners in their business success, and that means paying them a minimum of 50% of the earnings from their images<br />
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Getty Images may argue that they are merely the top of the chain, and what happens further down is not their responsibility, but the sheer contempt that they show to photographers by paying them only 20% of the earnings from their images exposes what Getty Images is all about, and it has nothing to do with the interests of the photographer.<br />
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For that reason, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Getty Images, you're fired</span>.<br />
<br />
Please pass on this message to any photographers who you think may feel the same way, or picture buyers who think that photographers deserve a decent percentage of the earnings from the work they create. If you would also like to fire Getty Images, or would like to expose other agencies' sub-agent payment percentages, please post below:Fair Trade Photographerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11863872408067887327noreply@blogger.com57