The conversation and debate about Watermarking continues. I’ve been speaking with a lot of friends and fellow photographers since my prior posts regarding the subject. The overwhelming majority agree I need to take steps to protect my work from being used with permission or credit. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself knocking my head against the wall chasing bands on Facebook. Having bands take shit of my website and even found one of my shots on a credible website with no permission or credit. (My email yet to be addressed after more than four days) From now on people can take my work and put it anywhere their heart desires because there’s going to be a big Fucking watermark on it. No worries, no complaints. Safe and sound. The End.
Tag: Protecting you work
Grand Theft Photo
The other night while uploading an interview and some new pictures to my music website I decided to add a disclaimer “All Photos Property of James Damion and Unite Fanzine.” I’ve been having a lot of people use my photos without permission or credit and it was beginning to piss me off. As I stated in an earlier blog post I’m not crazy about the idea of watermarking my images just yet. However I do find myself spending more and more time reminding folks that if they are going to use one of my images as their profile badge they should at least give me a photo credit. Well, only hours after loading the update I found some kid took the picture off the site and used it for his Facebook profile picture. No credit or notification. I was pissed, especially considering his bands shot was directly under the disclaimer. After confronting him I was still pissed and started watermarking everything. Pictures, records, my cat… You name is. I wanted my Watermarks to be large and obnoxious. I even tangled with watermarks that didn’t even have my name on them. “YourBandSucks”, “DicksDon’tCredit” and more insane ones too dirty to post here. Hey, I was pissed and Nasty Watermarking seemed like a better idea than spitting teeth. I’m calm and detached now and thinking that watermarking might be the next step for me. In the meantime…..
I Said Watermarking, Not Waterboarding.
Watermarking is an essential tool used by photographers to protect their work from being used without consent. It’s something I’ve toyed with for years but never fully warmed up to. I post a lot of my work to networking sites such as Facebook and at one time My Space. Often finding myself answering friend requests from people who’s soul reason for friending me was to tag my work without even crediting me. I also have absolutely no issues with telling people/friends/bands rather nicely to do the right thing. I need all the publicity I can get. It’s my work and sure as shit I’m going to protect it. Like I said, watermarking is an essential tool for many. I just don’t think I’m one of them. I guess I’ll be watching with due diligence for those few who fail to understand the idea of giving credit where credit is due. Those that slip through the cracks will have to deal with their own bad karma.
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