Uprooted Photographer | Eastern NC Photography

Candid Thoughts of a Photographer- Validation

I don’t do this often here, but I feel inclined to write today. The thoughts that I’m about to share may not necessarily be the same as all photographers and artists, but I suspect that many, if not the majority, share the same sentiments as I do. I just hope this doesn’t come across as conceited, cocky or what have you. I’m just trying to very candidly share my thoughts and feelings of what I’ve done, how I’ve gotten here and how I want to get to where I’m going (wherever that is). Now that I’ve probably confused everyone with that last sentence, I hope you take a few minutes to read this and please, share your thoughts with me here, on Twitter, Facebook or where ever else you find me!

If you follow me on Twitter and Facebook, then you’ve seen me share and discuss the topics of photo sharing, copyright infringement and related topics here and there over recently. I’ve found the need to deal with people using my work commercially and for their own purposes and promotion without giving me due credit or receiving licensing permission to be on a steep incline over the past few months. I guess that, in a round about way, it validates my work as a photographer and creative person when people begin to use your work. Permission granted or not, when you think about it it becomes pretty flattering that people want or need to use your work when there is so much out there to choose from. My policy from day one has been to be very open to folks using my work. I even have a tab on this website that describes usage rules in pretty good detail. It’s just a shame that so many people, many of whom should know better, think that images posted online are a free-for-all and have no understanding of the rights that photographers inherently have.

The thing that really got me thinking about this was that I recently had a sale through Getty Images, who have been representing me for a few months now. It wasn’t a large sale, but just a few dollars for web usage rights. Although it’s sometimes impossible, I like to track where my photos are being used simply for my own record, knowledge and portfolio purposes. I knew who the publisher was who used my image, but no idea what magazine or publication. 

Armed with the little info I had, I contacted a Getty representative and they helped track down where the photo was used (big thanks to them for their friendly help). Turns out, Esquire included my photo of Hurricane Irene’s approach on Emerald Isle, NC in their ‘Best Photographs 2011’ article. I was absolutely blown away when I learned that info and probably had a grin on my face for an hour after. 

The fact that Esquire paid AND credit the photographers in this article is great. Just in paying the small licensing fee they did, it shows that they truly value photography and that’s a rare thing in the world these days. The trend these days is to crowd source photography, much like CNN is doing at the cost of photographers’ jobs, lowering the expectations of quality and costing a lot of people their livelihood. Similar things are happening all over with magazines, local newspapers, tv news, you name it. I try to keep an open mind with these things because in reality, if CNN and get something for free, why pay someone to do it? It’s a changing world and we as photographers must adapt.

Now, I got a little off track, but back to my original point in this blog post: Validation. I think that artists are unlike people of other professions. Most artists (photographers included), no matter what they say, want to be noticed. Most people don’t create amazing and beautiful works of art so that they can be displayed anonymously. I’m the same way. Not in a conceited kind of way, but notoriety validates what I do. I’m the kind of person who needs to see results in order to remain driven. There is no way that I would be doing photography in a pre-digital, pre-web time. The fact that I can shoot a sunset, edit the photo and have it up on Facebook and my blog that same night is why I’ve have the success that I’ve been able to have. Sharing my work has opened so many doors for me that would have forever been closed had I not been able to spread my photography across the web. People ask me all the time why I don’t slap big watermarks across my photos and why I post them all on Facebook without worry of them being ripped off. With technology these days, it’s pretty easy to track down infringers. I want to present my work as perfectly as possible online and I can’t do that with a big logo on my image. These days, your blog or your Facebook page is your portfolio and you have to treat it as that.

I’ve exceeded every goal that I set for myself, photography wise, for 2011. However, I did not feel completely validated until I got that email from Getty Images that my photo was included in Esquire’s Best Photographs 2011 article. I can peddle my work all day long, contact people, sell it to them and repeat. But until someone comes asking to use my work, it still feels a bit empty. I’m currently working on my first book and I honestly have absolutely no idea how it will be received. But, if only five people ask for a copy, that’s five people who want to have my book on their coffee table and that’s validation of all I’ve worked for.