One time I explored various tags of mine on the blog posts over the years.
For example Dogs was one. Cats was another.
This evening I went to search “soup rutheh” to see some other images of soup that I’ve posted. And there are a lot. Soup season in upon us. I like to make soup.
But here is what else I found. There were at least eight other websites/blogs using photographs I’ve taken without having asked permission and there’s no photo credit. Over the past decade I have received requests from magazines, textbook authors, CD producers and brochure creators and a television show, asking to use a photograph and I’ve granted permission for them to do so.
It’s something to see an early morning school bus headlights and recognize the scene as one I captured being used on a site to illustrate “The Impact of School Start Times” . One of the sites with my jar of jelly beans photographed in my former Photo Class is on a website that is No Longer Found but still, how can they just take it and use it without even asking? Another site of What Do They Eat? has all of my minestrone ingredients with my Spode dish on my kitchen table. I get the idea of the Pinterest pins in different categories and somehow the internet knows they are my photos even though they are showing up on other’s sites and posts because there they are coming up in my search. I know my grandson saw their family dog on someone else’s website about Airedales. Taken from the blog.
I guess one puts a photograph out there into the world and others think it is just fine to snare it and use it.
For all the people who give photo credit and request permission, thank you. It means a lot.
Here are a few of the photos that come up when I searched “soup rutheh” and were found on other sites
Minestrone Ingredients Still Life
Guess How Many Jelly Beans in a Glass Quart Jar
We’re Talking Trash Now Why trash comes up with a “soup” search is beyond me.
Pot of English Breakfast Tea On this one they did include my name
I knew this was my photo too, on another site Essie’s Orginal Hot Dog Shop
Oh well, you get the idea. There were a few others.
wow – what an unnerving feeling. I have heard of writers seeing their entire article shared – and they wrote WP (and maybe the site authors) and it was removed – and I am not sure about photos.
You seem pretty relaxed about It – and maybe you need to watermark them in the middle.
oh and you sure do take some great photos – that bus one would go perfect with start times – lol – but they should have asked
At least none of them posted are for nefarious purposes. I feel overwhelmed that I haven’t really paid much attention to this situation My gut tells me there must be hundreds out there as I just put in “soup” Imagine all the tags. Ugh.
Clearly, I have not been vigilant. Someone did add a link to a place to purchase STeroids and the other link was gone. That was extremely disturbing. I should definitely do more blog tending, Yvette. Somehow other aspects of life have taken more attention.
Ugh – so frustrating – and the blog can take a whole bunch of time so we do need balance – and maybe you should offer your images for sale?
When I have had images used without permission I usually send an invoice. Many times I have actually gotten paid but I am pretty sure I could buy a second home in Florida for others that have gotten by me.Too bad “folks” assume that they can use others work efforts without compensation. You should be compensated for your work.
That’s a good idea Andy. Thanks for writing.
This is a form of photographic plagiarism, which I have also seen on various sites. Unfortunately, there is very little you can do about it, except embedding a watermark, which may discourage the unlawful copying of your pictures. Best wishes! Peter
Obviously I have not been attentive to this matter and shouldn’t really be surprised. It is always wonderful when someone asks.
That’s really annoying, have you pursued any of these sites or people to ask for a credit or removal of images? Just curious.
I did try to contact the guy who posted the Airedales in Ohio and never heard back. No surprise there. I have not been tending the blog very well and I feel it is a gargantuan task to try to see what else is out there. The winter is coming so there is time to pursue. I was saying in response to Yvette, at least none are being used for any nefarious purposes. It is just clear to me I have not been paying attention to this situation.
Interesting. I am glad to hear that you haven’t found them being used in a nefarious way. There are so many aspects to this issue in my opinion. Balancing between putting a quality image on the blog and it getting stolen is one.
I think it’s cool that the photos are so highly thought of. But I definitely think you should be reimbursed.
They mistake my images for a supply of stock images. Thanks Sue
I can empathize. I’ve never done a search like you to see how much of my work has been stolen. Yes, because that’s what it is, theft. However, I’ve gotten many inquiries through the years to use my photos for “credit and a link.” Nope. That doesn’t work for me. I firmly state that I don’t give away my work. Then I either don’t hear from the requester again or they are able to suddenly come up with funds to pay me. You definitely should be paid. Stand strong. Your work is your work and you deserve payment. Just like the doctor, the grocer, the car mechanic, the…
It is theft, but I’ve found so many bloggers over the years who believe that any photo is theirs to use by virtue of it being on the internet! WordPress doesn’t help the matter with their reblogging tool. Quite a few years ago, one blogger (and it was a rather disgusting site) had reblogged some of my posts – but they had also taken whole posts and photos. I complained to them, and to WordPress. The site was removed by WordPress!
After that, I made sure all my photos had a copyright statement on them, and I put a Copyright notice on my sidebar. I have no idea how effective that has been though!
Yes, it absolutely is theft. I know my son has had this experience with his photos as well. Very frustrating.
As someone who uses images for training purposes, I try to search and use images that are Creative Commons – but it’s not always clear, especially when doing a general image search. I suppose I should be more diligent in my efforts to determine if the image is available for general re-use or not, but as you said, that takes a lot of time and tending. One of the many challenges of the internet…..