Friday Happy Hour: Bogus Excuses for Stealing Photos
This week we hosted a special webinar with Carolyn Wright, aka The Photo Attorney, on what to do if you think your copyright has been infringed. Photography is playing a bigger role in nearly every business these days, but sometimes it feels like people’s respect for the copyright holder has gone down the drain. So how timely it was to see a post on PetaPixel called, “10 Bogus Excuses People Use When They Steal Photos from the Web“.
10 bogus excuses for stealing photos
Canadian photographer Francis Vachon is calling out all photo thieves and their lame excuses for not knowing they needed to pay up. A few of our favorites:
- The photo is on the Internet, therefore it is free to use!
- But I won’t make money off this photo! It’s just for blog/site/Facebook/etc.
- There was the photographer’s logo/name/email watermarked on the photo. If he/she put it there, it was so he/she can advertise his/her business when we share his/her photo, right?
- Millions of people are doing it!
What else have you heard? (via PetaPixel)
Photo contest winners
Did you see who won the Nikon International Photo Contest and National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest? Winners were announced this week from both contests: Israel-based artist Dina Bova took home the Grand Prize in the Nikon contest for her image titled, “Elegy of Autumn” featuring an elderly couple that one judge said was “at once traditional and respecting of the elders set in a classic living room, yet whimsical with the reference to space travel.”
Wagner Araujo took first place in the National Geographic Traveler contest. Judges were fascinated by the tension and action in Wagner’s photo of the Brazilian Aquathlon in Manaus, Amazonas. “I photographed it from the water and my lens got completely wet, but there was so much energy in these boys that I just didn’t worry about that,” he told Nat Geo.
Italy Photo Tour, October 2013 with Ken Kaminesky & Elia Locardi
Travel photographers Ken Kaminesky and Elia Locardi are hosting a very special photo tour and workshop to Italy this October. Along with expert Italian guides, they’ll take you from Rome to Tuscany, Florence, and Cinque Terre highlighting some of the premier photography spots that each region has to offer. Travel dates are 10/2-11 – find out more info here.
Bing now features photography from 500px
“Great news everyone! We have teamed up with Bing to bring you a remarkable opportunity that could make you famous.”
Or at least that’s what the 500px blog stated. 500px members can now add their photos to a Bing Homepage section and be entered to get featured on the Bing homepage. Selected photos will be displayed with attribution and a link back to the photographer’s 500px profile. More importantly, Bing will make the photo available for download under a personal use license. “We feel this is a small payoff for the potential exposure, but you may feel otherwise,” say the folks at 500px.
Kendrick Brinson’s “Sun City” series featured on Slate
For the past 3+ years, Kendrick Brinson has been visiting Sun City, Arizona, home of the most active populace of retirees ages 70 and older. Residents of this desert town nearly wore the twentysomething photographer out with their activities ranging from cheerleading to synchronized swimming to bowling. “I wanted to flip the stereotype of the wheelchair-bound granny on its head because that’s not how everyone has to age,” Kendrick told Slate in a blog post this week. “I wanted to show all the living in Sun City and not the dying because Sun City represents an energy that is ageless.” Kendrick’s book, Sun City: Life After Life is on sale now.
Interview with creator of Humans of New York
If you’re not familiar with Brandon Stanton’s work over on his Tumblr, Humans of New York, get yourself over there immediately. It’s one of our all-time favorite photography projects – you might even say we’re a bit preoccupied with spotting Brandon as he walks the streets of New York looking for his next subject. American Photo Magazine‘s Michael Kaplan followed Brandon around the city for a day, observing his work and shooting style.
“With Humans of New York, he has done nothing less than create a fresh form of photography that capitalizes on the connective possibilities of social media. In doing so he may represent the future of photography itself. He is his own editor, curator, and publisher, and his audience is larger than any traditional medium could allow.”
But at the core of Brandon’s success seems to be his ability to tell a story, both in visual and written form, of his unique subjects. Below are a few favorite shots.
Wrecking homes for an Olympic highway
Photojournalist Lianne Milton has gotten a firsthand look at the destruction and devastation of neighborhoods (called “favelas”) that are being cleared for Olympic construction in Rio de Janeiro. “Favelas are not shanty towns,” says Lianne. “They have kitchens, water, tiled floors. The people there have spent years there building community. It was very traumatic watching people lose their homes.” The Brazilian government says while the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup are the catalyst, the demolitions will bring needed improvements and have a long-term beneficial effect on the city. CNN Photos featured images from Lianne’s series.