An Open Letter
The original picture seen here
Image was cropped to remove my watermark and then theirs was added
To whom it may concern:
Recently it’s been brought to my attention that my photographs from my blog have been stolen yet again. This time, not only did they crop my watermark but had the temerity to add their own as though they took the time and effort that went into the picture. This Newspaper that is based in Trinidad went beyond theft and to the point of deceit. Their intention was to portray to their readers that they care enough to either a. hire a photographer or b. purchase the pictures that they needed for their article when in fact, they prowled the internet with the intention of stealing the hard work of the common blogger.
My readers do not pay to read my content, yet I put in lots of time, effort and forethought into providing them with fresh, original content and beautiful pictures to accompany my posts. I am driven to blog from week to week for personal enrichment and by the readers. Yet a “newspaper”- and I use the term loosely because I now question your validity- who most likely has paid advertisements and subscription chose to steal. Why? Why not ask permission to use my picture? Not only would it be the ethical thing to do but the right thing.
Originally I had intended on emailing you on the matter but decided to deal with it in a more public manner since you seem to believe that my photos are public property. I speak on behalf of Bloggers who have encountered this problem time and time again, this has to stop. We do not claim to be writers or photographers, but we do take pride in what we put forth to our readers, it is only right that credit is given to us for our hard work. Just as you would not steal the photos of another publication, you should not steal ours, respect our craft!
In closing I would like I thank Alicia of The Inner Gourmet for bringing this to my attention. Thankfully Bloggers are a part of a close-knit community of men and women that look out for each other.
Angry Blogger
You have every right to be angry and I hope this is resovled quickly.
Jehan. Yes, this is a problem that happens all the time. I see people’s recipes printed on other people’s sites without acknowledging where they came from, etc. Have you ever thought of enlarging your watermark and moving it to a more central part of your photos where it would be more difficult to remove? If it were me, I would still address the thief directly.
Thieves! Thieves! Thieves! I hate when this happens. Hate it. Damn thieves!!!!
So happy that you put this out there, publicly, for all to read. You should send it to them though, just to be sure that they see it. But we should assume that they will as your blog is on their radar for content to grab. Sorry, sorry, sorry it happened to you.
Thanks, I emailed the link to the blog post and they apologize and promised to remove the photos.
I’m glad this was resolved, wouldn’t it be possible to disable right click to save and copy the image(s) and slap on a bigger watermark that is more translucent that won’t take away too much from the image(s) to make it more difficult for others to try to permanently borrow your photo(s) without permission?
Dada,
I will definitely have to start watermarking the photos in the center unfortunately.
so sorry it happened, but it is important for all of us to be on the lookout for our content. I suscribe to a copyright service that copyrights everything in my posts as soon as they go live. It’s not fail-proof, but at least give you some leverage if the “media” infringing upon your content fails to acknowldege guilt.
I can’t believe it. I’ve yet to see a picture of mine out there, but if I ever do, trust and believe they’re not going to want to see that side of me. That is just foul thievery! The nerve. Lazy people. They deserve to be put on full blast. Did you send them a C&D??
I did and they apologized and promised to remove the image.
I believe this…Newsday is trash