Its NOT ok to copy photographers images

I see this all the time.. stolen or “copied’ images off web pages and photographers having issues.. .. Today I discovered that a “party theme idea” web page had used my images on their web page for a theme party..I get it.. the party was unique and cool and normally I would not mind.. however.. its still upsetting to me that images which I disable the right click copy and watermark are still taken off my page. The mother of this party is an event planner.. these pictures were for “HER” to use on her web page and document her sons 16th party as well.

First off.. all of my images are Watermarked.. and copyrighted.  Second, I would have been “ok” with this company at the minimum asking me for my permission.. and using the watermarked image..  and not cropping my name out..

Second.. it is my job to protect my clients from being spewed all over the internet.  These were images of teenagers taken at a party I shot for.. Although the mother signed an image release.. This company certainly did not ask me for an image release..How can they get away with using photographer’s images with kids they don’t have permission to much less that I don’t even know.

I emailed the company and  explained my concern.. and thankfully she took it down..  It would be awesome if people could familiarize themselves with copyright laws and a utilize a little common courtesy..

This is the reason we watermark our photos.. do I have to password protect everything I do on my web page?? Do I have to watermark across the faces of my clients when I post on the web?? I certainly hope not but I will do what I have to do to protect the integrity of my images and my clients privacy.. period.. I track every hit on my web page daily.. I see IP addresses, the origin of the city the person is in..the time, the date,  the network they use.. the size of their monitor, the computer they use.. what page they look at and if they have attempted to down load.

So please be advised.. it is NOT ok to copy any photographers images off their web pages.. its not ok to take pictures of the subjects with your cell phones and post them as if you took them while we were shooting (thats another situation).  Its not ok to copy off face book or any photographers web page and crop out their names and watermark.. 

Below is a watermarked picture of me that I had “Permission” to use.. with this amazing photographer’s watermark.. take note.. please…