…when your images are stolen, I suspect there really isn’t that much damage done financially to individual photographers (hey…don’t flame me for saying that), though collectively there sure is a lot of money being left on the table! Ultimately, if someone steals the image I get nothing, if they don’t steal I get nothing, but if they share it there may be profit for me in increased links, web traffic and visibility.
via The Stock Photo Guy – John Lund Stock Photographer: Watermarks, Theft And Visibility.
4 Comments
“…but if they share it there may be profit for me in increased links, web traffic and visibility.”
And right there is the myth.
Joe Holmes, why do you say so?
For many years my images have been shared around the Web, and I find it harmless and I accept it (though I would not accept my images being used commercially without permission). But I doubt very much that such sharing might be better for anyone’s career. The vast majority of my images around the Web, for example, do not credit me or provide a link to my site, and I’ve never gotten any benefit whatsoever from having those images out there, nor have I heard from anyone who has. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I just believe it’s just so rare as to be inconsequential for one’s career.
To paraphrase Lord Halifax, “Infringers are not sued for stealing images, but that images may not be stolen”
Comments are closed for this article!