Please do not steal our photos


I recently had a discussion with one of my clients. She told me her parents were "shocked" that the files of our online proofs are watermarked with the phrase: "please do not steal our photos"



So I explained the situation to her and asked if she minded if I posted it here. I think a lot of people are confused about copyright and ownership of photos, music and other intellectual property. I will try to do my part to clear things up. You see, when her dad took screen captures of my images and printed them on his home computer printer, he was offended that my copyright notice implied that he was stealing.

I tried to explain to the bride why the original Napster got shut down. It was because people were "sharing" music with one another. The artists and record companies were losing profits because people were illegally obtaining copies of a song without paying for them. If you buy an Apple iPod, as soon as you open the box, the first thing you see is a notice reading "DON'T STEAL MUSIC". The bottom line, taking something that is not meant to be free without paying for it is stealing not matter how you got it. Got it?

Back to the photos. We provide an online gallery for viewing all of our images from every wedding and portrait session that we shoot. We provide it as a convenience for our clients so that their guest, friends and family members can order reprints without troubling the couple. They are not posted so that people can make their own prints from small web files.

Now, I am different than a lot of photographers. I charge a premium for my time and talent because I think I am worth it. I am not a salesperson. Of course I do have to sell "myself" as the product... but I don't really rely on selling "pictures" to make a living. I do not like to nickel and dime my clients by trying to sell reprints and enlargements online... again, it's provided as a convenience in this technological world. We charge a fair price for an expertly retouched, custom photograph printed on profession paper. We also include the high resolution files in every package, so there is absolutely no reason to "steal" the low resolution file off of the internet. The real reason it bothers me is not the lost revenue from the print I didn't sell... it's because the print made from a web files makes me look like a bad photographer and that is far worse!

So, I don't meant to preach, and there is no way for me to police what people do with their personal computers, but as a photographer, as an artist, I just want to ask all people to respect the copyright of all creative professionals and don't steal intellectual property on the internet just because you can.

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Posted: Mon - January 23, 2006 at 06:31 PM          

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