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.
