A topical item of news at the moment would be the prolific ignorance in legality and subsequent freedom of what is acceptable for photographers whether amateur or professional to photograph.  Not least it would appear web citizens are being further misinformed due to the practice of online websites grabbing images and assuming they have the automatic right to use and display those images without having to either pay for the use or even seek permission first.

Copyright and Intellectual Property is a minefield to the uninitiated, coupled with persons trawling the internet and confusing the rights and wrongs between US and UK Laws. Although Island Pulse has already experienced images and text being harvested, it’s not just specific to the Isle of Wight and actually an online worldwide curse.

This blatant grabbing not only carries a financial cost to the photographer but also factors on the credibility and the business of photography in general. 

If an example to educate is required: when a baker sets out to create a cake he purchases the materials, energy and equipment thus expects payment for the effort expired and the goods he creates. The baker does not create rack after rack discards the spoils and then proceed to give the good cakes away for free.
  
As a photographer creates an image (whether digital or film), copyright is automatic and in most cases is the intellectual property of the photographer. It then follows in that creation that a photographer whether running a bonafide business or not, is allowed the privilege of licensing where they wish their product or creation to be viewed.

If you own a photography business and earn your living by taking and supplying photos would you (after the fact) suffer the ignorant insult of an email saying we give you credit, love and links? Can anyone honestly say the taxman, bank manager and accountant would be interested in a pile of IOU credits which state I got freebie advertising from Joe Blogs?  No, those irrelevant sentiments wont pay the bills and are of no interest to the bailiff when he comes knocking on the door. 

There appears a growing lack of respect for photographers who create images in the course of their work, whether it be in the news or media, images that payment and credit is required for in the main is not being given. If images are used in ignorance and without the expected payment and legal requirements those images are then launched into cyber-space without any visible means of parentage and can quickly become cyber-orphaned for all time. Thus negating any further financial benefit to the image creator and as there is no name given where is the return business to the photographer?

Proliferating the problem further are photographers (or basically anyone with a camera be it point and shoot, mobile phone etc) who feel it necessary to rush and feed the media by giving away their images for free.

This is presumably under the misinformed presumption of 15 mins of fame and making a name for themselves of which the name invariably equates to mug.  After supplying an image without including a licence of use, fame fires them up to send in another and it is only when they request payment guess what, the newspaper will not want to know.  All this eventually achieves is a never ending circle of freebies for commercial media and the only benefit gained well that’s most definitely not of benefit to the photographer. 

Providing image freebies is also in detriment to the future employment of newspaper staff photographers. Do those generous free image benefactors actually consider the consequences of their actions? The training and qualification this full time job entails or requires, then along comes the caring sharing brigade (hobby photographer) and wham the good old staff photographer is no longer necessary and given the boot.

It’s not only editorial photographers that need to be concerned, but advertising photographers as well, if they shoot images that are used in print publications then it follows they command a fair rate and follow on fee. 

If professional photographers want to continue to take pictures for a living, they are having to move away from print towards the internet. And it didn’t take long until some clever opportunists notice the growing available harvest of “photographers” and have devised a way to exploit them.  So with more and more photography headed online where the distribution and printing is virtually free, why can’t publishers pay for your photography?

More and more people see giving images away as a way to break into the industry and earn some money, if thats so, you’ll be sorely disappointed.  The responsibility lies on the shoulders of us, the photographers, who either failed to educate ourselves on the business aspects of the industry we hoped to enter, and on the established photographers who have failed to lend more of a hand and help educate more of those who are seeking to find their way in this rather confusing industry.

Before I’m attacked for having my say, do you know why some photographers can charge what they do and why their clients are willing to pay it?  Do you know how much it really costs you to do business and produce images?

Then instead of attacking those who are working to protect your earning power, as well as their own,  start demanding what you are worth and educating others to do the same. No one can be faulted for chasing their dreams.  What joy is there in life without them?  Just don’t allow some to turn your dream into a nightmare of poverty and hard work by failing to educate yourself on the industry in which you hope to thrive.

Island Pulse states: We hold our hands up and admit, as a social media website Island Pulse do accept images for free to illustrate topical news articles and always credit the source. However we are non commercial, not pay per view, nor do we request fees, subscriptions or donations for the up-keep of the website.

If images are received they are for one off use and never re-used (carte blanche) at a later date unless we request further usage/permission from the original source. This information has been contained in our policy since inception (2006) and where is reasonably possible the original photographer along with the relevant PR media provider are given credit and named within all of our news articles.   If we cannot legally find and publish a picture from source our policy is to publish the article starved of images rather than embellish with images of which we have no rights of use.